Key economic indicators for August show the Chinese economy continued to slow in expansion but held steady in reforms, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Liu Aihua, a spokeswoman for the NBS, said at a press conference Thursday that in the first eight months of this year, China's economic growth was maintained in a reasonable range, structural adjustments were continuously deepened and quality and efficiency kept improving.

She summarized the characteristics of China's economy in five aspects:

1. Steady growth

A technician tests a drug sample at a biopharmaceutical company in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province on Aug 27, 2017. [Photo/IC]

China's value-added industrial output grew 6.7 percent year-on-year in the January-August period, 0.7 percentage point higher than the growth rate over the same period last year, according to the NBS.

In August, the value-added industrial output increased by 6 percent year-on-year, keeping a relatively rapid growth.

The service sector production index increased 8.3 percent year-on-year in the January-August period, up 0.2 percentage point from the same period last year.

It rose 8.3 percent year-on-year in August, up 0.9 percentage point from the same month last year.

On the demand side, retail sales grew 10.4 percent year-on-year in the January-August period, 0.1 percentage point higher than the same period last year.

Investment growth was steady, with fixed asset investment rising 7.8 percent year-on-year in the January-August period and investment into areas of weakness maintaining a relatively sound growth.

In addition, China's imports and exports kept two-digit rates of growth.