Shenzhen is the most innovative among major Chinese cities thanks to its high level of creativity and pool of young creative talent, according to a ranking of Chinese cities released yesterday (July 8).
The city beat its rivals Hong Kong and Shanghai and secured the No. 1 position for the second year in a report by the China Institute of City Competitiveness, a nonprofit organization in Hong Kong.
Among the criteria used, innovation was ranked by creativity in economy, culture, science, education and environmental protection. The ranking was mainly decided by the awareness, use and congregation of creative resources, said Gui Qiangfang, chairman of the institute, at a news conference in Hong Kong.
Among the 374 cities which were included in the survey, Guangzhou and Dalian ranked fourth and fifth.
Though Shenzhen was regarded as the No. 1 city for people to make their fortunes, it dropped out of the list of top 10 cities in terms of happiness of residents.
Happiness refers to the feeling of orientation, satisfaction and security residents have towards their city, Gui said.
Happiness was rated by residents' living and employment environments, quality of life, social development, welfare and social security levels. Qingdao, Hangzhou and Chengdu ranked top three in terms of happiness.
Differences between cities in China will narrow in the coming 20 years and some major Chinese cities such as Shenzhen, Tianjin, Chong-qing, Hangzhou and Wuhan will become global metropolises by 2030, Gui said.
(By Han Ximin)
