A new report shows that China's manufacturing activity slumped to its lowest level in 32 months in November.
The figures from banking giant HSBC will fuel fears the Chinese economy is losing steam amid global economic worries.
The news comes just days after vice-premier Wang Qishan, China's top finance official, gave a dire warning that the global recession was here to stay and would impact the export-dependent economy due to weakening external demand.
The preliminary HSBC purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped to 48 in November - the lowest since March 2009 - compared with 51 in the previous month, HSBC said in a statement.
A figure above 50 indicates the sector is expanding while a reading below 50 suggests a contraction. The final figure will be released on December 1.
HSBC chief China economist Qu Hongbin said he expected cooling domestic demand and weakening external demand for China's exports heralded a further slowdown in production in coming months.
But he added that China had more room to ease its tight monetary policy to boost a slowing domestic economy, as inflation was now in check.
The country's authorities, anxious about high inflation, have used a variety of measures to curb price rises in the past year, including restricting the amount of money banks can lend and hiking interest rates. The measures appear to have worked, as the nation's inflation rate slowed sharply to 5.5% in October. That was the slowest pace since May, as food prices fell.
