"The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Politburo normally holds two special meetings each year to discuss economic issues. One is usually in July and one is in December. Mingpao reported, however, that it added one in April of last year because, since last year, the economic slowdown has become the new norm."
This year the Politburo met again in April to discuss economic growth. "[China’s] GDP grew at 6.7 percent in the first quarter of this year. The announcement of the Politburo’s economic meeting stated that there is relatively high pressure for the GDP growth rate to drop even further. It is usually rare for China’s annual GDP growth rate to beat its first quarter’s growth rate, so China faces a major challenge in trying to meet its targeted growth rate of 6.7 percent."
"The Northeastern region is of particular concern. Liaoning Province recorded a negative growth, becoming the first state to post such a record. The three provinces in the Northeastern region (Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang) were among the bottom four provinces having the slowest growth."
Source: Mingpao, April 30, 2016
http://news.mingpao.com/pns/dailynews/web_tc/article/20160501/s00013/1462038853619