Most countries that go through an "industrial revolution" have had high GDP growth rates. China is nothing special, it just happened to be very late in coming to the world economy and driven by a huge population converting from an agrarian economy to an industrial one.
Japan had growth rates averaging 11%pa from 1960 to 1970. Sth Korea averaged 9% from 1966 to 1990. Even little Israel averaged 9% from 1959 to 1972. At the turn of last century, the USA sustained 14% growth rates, even Australia sustained an average 14% during the period 1840-53 (all data can be found at
http://www.worldeconomics.com/Data/MadisonHistoricalGDP/Madison Historical GDP Data.efp).
As economies mature, their GDP growth rates settle down, notwithstanding wars, and tend towards some small multiplier of their population growth. China burst onto the world market with very cheaply made goods in the late 1970s - early 1980s, replicating what Japan and Korea had done beforehand.
China's current growth is not being driven by genius economic management, but by the happenstance of its position on the economic evolution cycle.
While, as an export nation, we all hope China continues to grow some more, don't kid yourself it will last for ever, or that they have some secret policy that allows them to do it.
