Thousands of delegates from around the country will descend on the Chinese capital to review every issue from environmental policy to leadership reshuffles, although the parliament is largely ceremonial.

The world´s most populous nation has powered through the financial downturn, with 8.7 percent GDP growth for 2009.

But some question the sustainability of such a recovery, and see challenges ahead for the leadership in creating employment and improving standards of living for the country´s rural poor, both of which are seen as crucial to avoid stoking social tensions.

ACCORDING TO SOURCES, last year, China recorded its widest income gap between rural and urban residents since it first rolled out policies to open and reform its economy over 30 years ago.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the report said, the urban per capita income was around 17,000 yuan - or the equivalent of 2,500 US Dollars - last year, but the average in rural areas stood at well under a third of that at just over 5,000 yuan.

While it is expected to overtake Japan as the world´s second largest economy some time this year, China last year still fell into the same World Bank per capita income rankings as Cameroon and Guatemala.

Last year Beijing rolled out a stimulus package worht four trillion yuan - the equivalent of 586 billion US Dollars - which created jobs at a time when demand for its exports plummeted, a move which analysts say shows the importance the authorities place on job creation.

Some 6.1 million students graduated last year, about half a million more than in 2008, and the glut has lead companies in cities like Beijing to slash monthly wages from between 50 to 100 percent.