The reforms that new Chinese leaders have pledged to make was one of the 10 largest "surprises" for 2013, according to Byron Wien, vice-chairman at Blackstone Advisory Partners, on Jan 16.

Wien defines a "surprise" as an event that the average investor would only assign a one in three chance of taking place but which Wien believes is "probable", or having a better than 50 percent likelihood of happening.

According to Wien's prediction, China's new leaders seem determined to implement reforms to root out corruption, keep the economy growing at 7 percent or better and begin to develop improved healthcare and retirement programs.

Wien said the Shanghai Composite has finally come alive and the A-shares are up more than 20 percent in 2013, compared to 2012 when Chinese stocks were down and some developing markets such as India rose.

This is the 28th year Byron has given his views on a number of economic, financial and political surprises for the coming year.