China has developed incredibly quickly since it's opening-up policy was introduced and economic reforms set. However that does not mean it's booming right ahead.
The consequences of such development are now becoming apparent and large issues are taking shape. For China to rise higher and surpass other countries, it's challenge is to overcome and sort out these issues, not continue development in the same way.
The rich/poor gap in China is widening at an unprecedented rate, environmental issues will soon spiral out of control if not attended to, and much thanks to the internet allowing people to group together opinions, perverse government corruption continues to make Chinese people less cooperative and satisfied. China will have serious problems down the road if it does not deal with those issues in a rational way, and as of today the government has done far from enough.
I live in Xiamen, a fairly small city in China which is also a Special Economic Zone. Xiamen's development was always intended to be an economic model for development of small-scale cities, and whilst it went incredibly well at first, due to ignorance of the above issues Xiamen is fast becoming a victim of mismanagement.
Long an example of good environmental protection, Xiamen's environment is now on a steady decline due to pollution from cars and industry - stemming mainly from the almost dangerous yearly increase of cars on the road. The city is becoming so saturated with newly registered vehicles that the roads are struggling to cope; the government responds simply by building more roads and expanding others, leaving less room for the also expanding number of pedestrians. Now in some of the city's busiest areas, pedestrians spill onto the roads causing even more traffic. Pollution is causing rising instances of acid rain.
That's only one issue - the point is that China's development is not sustainable at this rate, or at least at this level of ignorance. Issues such as the environment, financial inequality, unaffordable housing and total ignorance of rural development are not growing smaller. The key is how China deals with these, not how quickly it grows bigger. That ship has sailed.
My apologies for not including any sources. These have come off the top of my head from living in China.