"The PMI is a quite inaccurate barometer around the Chinese New Year holiday, " said Lu Ting, an economist with Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

CNN: Growth in Chinese manufacturing slows

"They have little incentive to over-report use of energy, including electricity, as Beijing imposes increasingly restrictive regulations on energy use per unit of GDP on local governments, " said Bank of America Merrill-Lynch economist Lu Ting in a note.

WSJ: Some Economists Say China's Growth Has Slowed More than Data Suggest