China's growth slowed to its weakest pace in almost three decades in the second quarter, with the US-China trade war and weakening global demand weighing on the world's second biggest economy.
The slowing economy makes it more difficult for President Xi Jinping to fight back forcefully against Washington - which is using tariffs as leverage to try to force Beijing into opening up its economy.
The 6.2% figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics was in line with a survey of analysts by AFP and down from a 6.4% expansion in the first quarter.
The GDP figures are within the government's target range of 6-6.5% for the whole year, down from the 6.6% growth China put up in 2018.
"Economic conditions are still severe both at home and abroad, global economic growth is slowing down and the external instabilities and uncertainties are increasing," said NBS spokesman Mao Shengyong.
"The economy is under new downward pressure," he added.
Beijing has introduced measures including a massive tax cut to boost the economy, but they have not been enough to offset a domestic slowdown and softening overseas demand - made worse by a punishing trade war with its biggest trading partner country, the US.
Total exports rose only 0.1% on-year during the first six months.
Analysts widely expect Beijing will step up support in the coming months. Mao told journalists: "There is still much room for policy manoeuvering".
Monetary easing is expected to help boost the economy, and the central bank today finalised a previously announced cut to the amount of cash that small and medium-sized banks hold in reserve.
The month of June held bright spots for the Chinese economy.
Industrial output rose 6.3%, from 5% in May, which was the slowest increase since 2002.
Fixed-asset investment also picked up, rising 5.8% on-year in January-June, from 5.6% in January-May.
China's 1.3 billion consumers continued to open their wallets, with retail sales growing 9.8% on-year in June, up from 8.6% in May.
"A stronger end to the quarter didn't prevent growth from slowing in (the second quarter) and we see more weakness on the horizon," said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics in a note.
Sales of big-ticket items such as cars have not held up, with sales down 12.4% in the first half of the year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
And growth in infrastructure investment has retreated from years of near 20% expansion - coming in at a 4.1% rise in January-June.
Imports and exports also both shrank in June, while the urban unemployment rate ticked up to 5.1% for the month.
Meanwhile, extreme weather and highly contagious African swine fever have sent food prices skyrocketing, especially for meat, with the size of the world's largest pig herd down 15% in the first half of the year.
