"The true state of China's growth trajectory is a matter of belief (rather) than reliance on reported statistics."

The fixed asset numbers released on Wednesday also appeared to reinforce government concerns that provincial authorities are not enacting measures to slow the economy as swiftly as Beijing would like.

The central government has repeatedly told the provinces to cool it but the country's key economic planner said last week the economies of three quarters of China's provinces expanded at 12 percent or more in the first six months.

Projects funded by provincial and local governments in the first seven months increased 31.1 percent to four trillion yuan, the statistics bureau said.