Beijing, Shanghai top list of China's central cities
- By He Shan
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, February 6, 2018
According to the recently released Chinese Central Cities Index Research Report, Beijing and Shanghai took the top two spots on the rankings of China's central cities.
The report, released by Cloud River Urban Research Institute, ranked 297 prefecture-level and above cities based on 10 major indexes, including political status, economic strength, transportation, business environment, innovation capability, life quality, and culture and education levels.
Central cities are considered very important leading cities, which include municipalities directly governed by the central government, capitals of provinces and autonomous regions, cities specifically designated in China's development plans, as well as prefecture-level cities with permanent populations of more than 2 million and GDPs above 300 billion yuan.
Zhou Muzhi, professor of economics at Tokyo Keizai University, said that it is no surprise that Beijing came in at No.1 on the rankings as the capital of China. Beijing ranked first in seven of the report's 10 indexes.
The report said that the international competition under the backdrop of globalization comes down to the competition among central cities that rely on their core functions to attract talent, capital and resources.
Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan and Nanjing also made the list.
The top 37 cities on the list accounted for 25.4 percent of China's population, 40.7 percent of China's GDP, 54.4 percent of patent authorization, nearly 60 percent of the country's goods export, and 55.3 percent of total inbound tourists to the country.
The report found that between 1980 and 2015, 30 Chinese cities saw their population increase by more than 2.5 million people, reflecting China's rapid urbanization.
Xu Lin, director of China's Cities and Towns Reform and Development Center, said that central cities have contributed a lot to China's development as they attract resources and serve as the center of innovation and the economy.
"Development of central cities and their preferences of functions will play a very crucial role to the national growth," he said.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)