This archive report was first published on 15 June 2020.
China's economy is slowly recovering from the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic, with factory output rising 4.4% in May, according to official data released on Monday.
However, the country's retail sales continued to shrink, falling 2.8% in May, a slight improvement on the 7.5% contraction suffered in April.
Despite the positive signs, officials warned that the recovery is likely to be rocky, with the external environment remaining complex and uncertain.
"The stable operation of the industrial economy still faces many difficulties and uncertainties," said Jiang Yuan, deputy director of the industry department at the National Bureau of Statistics.
The Chinese government has been working to transition the economy from one driven by investment and exports to one driven by consumer spending, but the virus has battered overseas markets, making it harder for the country to achieve this goal.
Unemployment, which has climbed this year, shrank slightly to 5.9% in May, from 6% in April.
China's Communist Party has long staked its legitimacy on delivering jobs and prosperity in return for public acquiescence to its political monopoly.
However, a fresh outbreak of the coronavirus in Beijing has raised concerns about a new wave of infections that could hurt any economic recovery.
