TOKYO -- With the waves created by the slowdown in the Chinese economy being felt far and wide, official figures released this week will do little to allay growing concerns over what the repercussions will be for the global economy.

On Monday China announced a real economic growth of 6.9% in the July-September period from a year earlier, dipping below 7% for the first time in six and a half years. But amid lingering questions regarding why China is avoiding full-scale stimulus measures despite global concern over its economy, critics are also asking whether the released data truly reflect the state of the country's economy.

During a visit to a heavy machinery plant in the industrial heartland of Liaoning in mid-September, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that heavy industry in northeastern China is in "urgent" need of upgrading. The remark reflects the essence of global concern over the Chinese economy.

Li Keqiang index

In 2007, Li, then the communist party secretary of Liaoning, reportedly told the U.S. ambassador to China that official numbers of gross domestic product are used only as a reference point, and that electricity consumption, railway cargo volume and loans disbursed by banks are better economic indicators.

Consumers at a Beijing shopping center

The three indicators, now dubbed the Li Keqiang index, have since become widely used as a key tool in measuring the Chinese economy.

Currently, the Li Keqiang index points to considerably tough economic conditions in China. In August, for example, the volume of rail freight traffic plummeted 15% from a year earlier.

"Economic growth is faced with difficulties," said a senior Liaoning government official after Li's visit.

The July-September growth of 6.9% represents a drop of 0.1 percentage point from the previous quarter's year-on-year expansion, testifying to China's slowdown. Yet an official at a Japanese manufacturer operating in China said, "Announced figures are still higher than how we actually feel" about the economy.

Although distrust in official GDP figures is growing stronger, they cannot necessarily be dismissed as an inaccurate reflection of the economic reality in China.

Companies in other sectors see the economy from greatly different perspective.

Tadashi Yanai, chairman and president of Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo clothing retail chain, said on Oct. 8 that the Chinese economy "will not fall into an emergency situation though there will be near-term corrections." Fast Retailing has renewed a record high in net profit thanks to the strong performance of its business in China.

The world's factory

A decade ago, it was the manufacturing sector that spearheaded the Chinese economy, accounting for 47% of GDP.

Upon entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, China vastly expanded the value of its trade, becoming known as the "factory of the world."

But this is no longer the case, with the emergence of service providers and retailers as a force in the Chinese economy. Back in 2005, the tertiary sector accounted for 41% of GDP. The ratio has increased to 51% in the first nine months of 2015, about 11 percentage points higher than the secondary sector.

Growth rates of the two sectors also showed a distinct contrast. The tertiary sector grew 8.4%, while the secondary sector posted a moderate gain of 6%.

The Chinese economy, therefore, maintains a growth rate of around 7% because the solid expansion of retailers, services companies and other businesses in the tertiary sector makes up for a slowdown in manufacturing.

The explosion of Chinese tourists' consumption in Japan is a good example of one of the trend's ripple effects overseas.

China's economic structure has changed as a result of stimulus measures introduced by the government to avoid being sucked into the global recession following the 2008 Lehman Shock. The package of measures was so huge in value that it resulted in an excess of production facilities which still haunts manufacturers.

In the meantime, disposable income has continued to increase among consumers especially in urban centers, helping service companies and retailers become important sectors of the Chinese economy.

It is understandable that Japanese manufacturers question growth figures of nearly 7%, but the question does not reflect the whole of the Chinese economy.

The tertiary sector, which has grown to be the core of the Chinese economy, is changing on a constant basis. While personal consumption grew 11% in the January-September period, online shopping logged an increase of 36%.

Growth gap

The question now is how long the growth discrepancy between the secondary and tertiary sectors will continue.

At a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Turkey in September, Chinese financial chief Lou Jiwei said China will go through "labor pains" in the next five years as it seeks to complete major structural reforms by 2020. Concerned Chinese authorities have yet to see light at the end of the tunnel for the country's economy.

Other data

Amid economic structural changes, data that provide an accurate analysis the Chinese economy are constantly changing.

The Li Keqiang index does not provide the "whole picture" of the economy, said Mihoko Hosokawa, a research executive at Mizuho Bank (China).

While, for example, a drop in the volume of rail cargo traffic is considered to symbolize an economic slowdown, coal and steel account for more than 80% of the traffic. A recent sharp fall in the volume only reflects sluggish property development and industrial production. In addition, railways now account for less than 10% of all freight traffic in China.

In contrast, road cargo transport has been increasing, maintaining a growth rate of around 6% since the start of 2015. Of all cargo moved around China, more than 70% is now transported by road. Therefore transport of goods has not slowed in China, despite what rail freight data may indicate.

Data on bank loans help understand the government's policy. The government holds majority stakes in big Chinese banks even though they are listed. Unlike Japanese commercial banks, they increase loans in line with the government's intentions when economic activity stagnates.

Loans in yuan are gradually increasing at present, indicating that the government is prompting banks to boost loans so as to prevent drops in stock prices and economic activity.

Attention should also be paid to data other than the Li Keqiang index, including employment figures, personal incomes and the efficiency of energy usage. All three of which have been stressed by Li recently, almost as if to halt the rising influence of the Li Keqiang index.

In particular, Li places emphasis on employment data. A National Bureau of Statistics press officer told a news conference on Monday that employment data are "not bad."

The situation was different at the time of the Lehman Shock. With the ratio of job offers to job seekers falling below 1 in urban areas, word circulated that migrant workers would lose jobs and return home. As the government adopted a huge package of stimulus measures, bank loans temporarily increased 30%, revealing how panic-stricken Beijing was at that time.

That ratio has remained above 1 in recent years as the Chinese economy has rapidly expanded in scale while the growth of the working population has declined under the so-called "one-child" policy.

The economy has also benefited from the growth of service companies that employ large numbers of workers.

The ratio may be droppping again temporarily with manufacturers in the doldrums, but as long as the drop remains moderate, the government seems unlikely to adopt large-scale stimulus measures out of concern over employment figures.

The rate of growth therefore will not rise sharply.

Following the Lehman Shock, then Premier Wen Jiabao said China could make "the greatest contribution to the world through the maintenance of strong and stable growth."

China now has neither the leeway nor the will to continue that contribution. As Chinese manufacturers, especially in heavy industry, continue to flounder, resource-rich countries and other economies reliant on Chinese demand will remain rattled by the country's economic management.