Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shanghai Listed as the Most Competitive Cities in China

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Apr. 15 – The seventh edition of the Blue Book on Urban Competitiveness conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) listed Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shanghai as the three top competitive cities in the country.

The newest entrant to the top 10 is the coastal city of Qingdao; which hosted the sailing events for the Beijing Olympic Games.

The study surveyed 294 cities on the Chinese mainland including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau and based competitiveness mainly on the per unit area of gross domestic product.

“Urbanization will become the major force behind China’s economic growth in the next 30 years,” Yao Jingyuan, chief economist with the National Bureau of Statistics told China Daily.

The study shows that the gap between earnings made in coastal cities compared to the inland area is widening which explains why most of the cities from the top 10 come from the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, the Bohai Sea Rim area and Taiwan.

The top 10 competitive cities in China in order are: Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Tianjin, Suzhou and Kaohsiung in Taiwan. Zhejiang Province’s capital, Hangzhou, did not make it to the list this year.

Despite improving competitiveness, on the global scale, Chinese cities are still lagging behind. A CASS report on Global Urban Competitiveness Report (2007-08) listed Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shanghai as 26th, 64th and 41st respectively.