A closely watched set of privately-produced PMI readings for China produced a bleak picture of the economy in August, with the overall 'composite' PMI reading indicating the economy was contracting, not expanding.

一组受到密切关注的、由民间机构调查得出的采购经理人指数(PMI)，描绘出了中国经济在8月份的惨淡景象，其中的“综合”PMI读数显示出，中国经济活动在收缩、而不是在扩张。

The Caixin-sponsored final manufacturing PMI reading for August was revised slightly upwards to 47.3, from a preliminary reading of 47.1. It was last above 50 - the threshold separating contraction from expansion - in February.

8月份的财新(Caixin)制造业PMI终值为47.3，略高于47.1的初值。该读数上次高于50（即区分活动收缩与扩张的荣枯线）还是在今年2月。

The weak manufacturing reading dragged the overall composite PMI for the economy as a whole to 48.8, versus 50.2 in July. The last time the overall PMI measure for this series showed contraction was in April 2014.

疲软的制造业读数，将衡量中国整体经济活动的综合PMI拉低至48.8，7月份则为50.2。综合PMI上次低于50，还是在2014年4月。

The services PMI for August was 51.5, slightly down from the 53.8 recorded in July, and was the lowest reading in 13 months.

8月份的财新服务业PMI为51.5，略低于7月份的53.8，是13个月来的最低值。

The Caixin-sponsored series is based on a much smaller sample of smaller, private companies and tends to be more volatile than the official reading. The official survey focuses on larger state enterprises.

这组由财新赞助的指数，调查样本相对小得多，调查对象也是民营中小企业，读数往往比官方PMI读数的波动性更大。中国官方的PMI调查，聚焦于规模较大的国有企业。