A recent “Report of Comprehensive Competitiveness of Cities in China” was published by the Beijing International Institute for Urban Development based on a comparative analysis of the overall competitiveness of China’s 286 prefecture-level cities. The following emerged as the top ten most competitive cities in China:-

1. Shenzhen
2. Shanghai
3. Beijing
4. Dongguan
5. Guangzhou
6. Hangzhou
7. Wuxi
8. Suzhou
9. Nanjing
10. Changsha

The ten key factors used for evaluating the cities’ comprehensive competitiveness were globalization, industrial structure of post-industrialization cities, economic flows, openness of the market, entrepreneurship, innovative atmosphere, human resources, urban governance structure, urban brand, and city clustering and city alliance.

Beijing was also named the most charming Chinese city and the added value of its cultural and creative industries is expected to account for more than 10% of the city’s GDP by 2010.

Shenzhen has been the fastest growing city in China for the past 30 years from its humble fishing village origins. Its over 9 million inhabitants have the highest disposable income on the mainland as Shenzhen is the only mainland city to break the per capita GDP of US$10,000 in China last year.

In the first half of this year, Shenzhen’s GDP was 353.288 billion yuan (US$51.8 billion) which is an increase of 10.5% compared to the corresponding period in 2007. The city’s consumption market has grown 18.2% to reach 108.049 billion yuan of total retail sales over January to June.

The prosperous coastal city, adjacent to Hong Kong, has drawn over US$30 billion in foreign investment with 148 Fortune Global 500 companies, and cultivated many of China’s multinational companies such as Huawei Technologies, China Merchants Bank, China Ping An Insurance, etc.

In 2007, Shenzhen’s GDP reached a record high of US$90.81 billion, an increase of over 15% from 2006. In addition, the city’s added value of cultural industry reached 38.196 billion yuan in 2006, up 25.9% over the same period of the prior year, which represented 6.7% of the city’s GDP.

Similarly located in Guangdong Province, Dongguan’s GDP has been growing by an annual average of 18% over the last five years, which means the city is the third fastest growing Chinese city after Shanghai and Shenzhen. Dongguan’s GDP reached 315.1 billion yuan (US$46 billion) last year and the per capita disposable income of its urban residents was 20,526 yuan (US$3,002). “One out of five pieces of clothing in China, one out of ten pairs of sneakers, one out of five toys and one out of five computers in the world are made in the city of Dongguan (Source: Dynamic Dongguan).”