Beijing may be one of the least liveable cities in the world (yeah, right) but at least it's once again back on top as China's best city. That's because on May 24, financial media outlet China Business Network (CBN) released their 2019 rankings of China's 337 cities, putting Beijing in the top spot ahead of long-time rival Shanghai, who placed ahead of the capital for the first time last year. Guangzhou and Shenzhen followed in third and fourth respectively.

This is the fourth unofficial official list from CBN. Despite being a branch of state-owned company Diyicaijing (Yicai for short), CBN's rankings are not explicitly endorsed by the Chinese government. Nevertheless, since 2016 these rankings have formed the basis for the tier system often referenced by media and citizens as a rule-of-thumb index for a city's level of development. Positions are determined via an overall "economic attraction index" with five major indicators:

Concentration of commercial resources, including e-commerce and the retail industry

The city as a hub i.e. the ease of transportation, logistics, and the location of commercial resources

Citizen activity evaluated via the data of food delivery and online shopping

Diversity of lifestyle as pulled from travel data, personal expenditure, and entertainment activities available

City development, which emphasizes the city's level of innovation, how attractive it is to outside talent, and the city's consumption potential.

As well as the big four "real" first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, the total list also includes 15 cities classified as "new first-tier" (not new in the sense that they have graced the list for the first time but simply that they're ranked next best behind the big four), 30 second-tier cities, 70 third-tier cities, 90 fourth-tier cities, and 128 fifth-tier cities.

Given that the big four never change, the most interesting results and best indicators of thriving economic development lie further down the list, among the top 15 "new first-tier" list.

This year, the new first-tier list is led by Chengdu and Hangzhou, followed by Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi’an, Suzhou, Tianjin, Nanjing, Changsha, Zhengzhou, Dongguan, Qingdao, Shenyang, Ningbo, and Kunming. With the overwhelming majority of these cities (ten out of 15) located in the south, the results reflect a distinct and growing economic gap between the two halves of the country.

Noteworthy changes compared to last year's list include Kunming's emergence as one of China's logistic hub cities thanks to the One Belt One Road-related investments in rail and airport facilities, replacing Jiangsu's Wuxi, and earning them a spot among the top 15 new first-tier list for the first time. Dongguan, which was once infamous for its thriving sex industry (since thoroughly scrubbed clean) jumps from 14th to the 11th on the list, its seedier underbelly having been replaced with cutting-edge electronics manufacturing.

Predictably, the new rankings have been met with mixed reactions online. On Weibo, some citizens have expressed their doubts regarding the reliability of the data, while others simply think their own cities deserve better ranking. Others still are skeptical of the whole thing, suggesting that it is just a strategy whipped up by speculators to artificially bolster local real estate markets.

Concerns about rising housing prices and living costs in cities with high rankings are common. “Please remove Chongqing from the top list, we don’t care about ranking top on the list, all we want to see is that our life remains affordable and comfortable,” one Weibo user wrote. A netizen in Changsha, Hunan also demonstrated similar concern, posting, “I’m so worried that housing prices in Changsha will become even higher after this stupid ranking thing.”

Although the growth of China’s housing market has been slowing down as of late, the potential of a bubble in the property market still remains a very real and serious threat to the country’s economic development, as some economists have pointed out. It has been suggested that having more "first-tier cities" in China could help reduce discrepancies in urbanization across the country and mitigate the real estate bubble in big cities. So far, whether such a strategy will work has yet to be seen.

Meanwhile... Beijing Places Second to Last in Deutsche Bank Quality of Life Index

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