China's economy grew 7.4 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2014, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Wednesday.

The NBS said that the figure suggested growth in the world's second largest economy was generally stable, and marked a nice beginning for the year of 2014.

The first-quarter growth exceeded market estimate of 7.3 percent. However, it slowed compared to the 7.7-percent growth in the fourth quarter.