The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) released the 2011 China City Competitiveness Blue Paper: China City Competitiveness Report on May 6. Among 294 ranked cities, the Guangdong province city of Qingyuan is listed as one of the top 10 cities for continued growth during the past six years. It is the only city on the list from the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao regions. Qingyuan ranks No 10 in the country and first in the province for overall growth and competitiveness.

Ni Pengfei, chief editor of the blue paper and director of the CASS City and Competitiveness Research Center, said the report shows that cities in southeastern coastal areas are becoming comparatively less competitive, and cities in northern and central regions are rapidly becoming more competitive. Northern coastal cities have advanced in competitiveness over their southern counterpart, Ni said. Chinese cities, Ni added, have been elevated as a whole.

Cities of potential growth capability show individual characteristics. Southeast China has been slightly weakened from its dominant position. The disparities are narrowed among other cities across the country. Provincial capital cities have reversed when it comes to competitiveness. Central and western provinces and autonomous regions have grown fast, Ni said.

In terms of overall growth competitiveness, northeast China maintains the fastest growth rate, Ni said, but added that Southeast China has recovered fast.

The report points out that Chinese city competitiveness has been elevated rapidly as a whole, and disparities among cities have been narrowed. The average index of competitiveness of 294 Chinese cities reached 0.551 in 2010, higher than 0.497 reported in 2009. Among the cities, the overall competitiveness index of Qingyuan stood at 0.558 in 2010, higher than the average for all 294 prefecture-level cities. Qingyuan ranked the 124, up by nine points over 2009.

Province-wide, the ranking of city overall competitiveness in Guangdong in 2010 is as follows: Shenzhen ranked No 1, followed by Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Zhanjiang, Zhaoqing, Shantou, Qingyuan, Maoming, Shaoguan, Heyuan, Jieyang, Yangjiang, Meizhou, Chaozhou, Shanwei and Yunfu. Qingyuan ranks No 12 in the province.

The average index for the province’s city overall competitiveness increased to 0.611 in 2010, up from 0.551 in 2009. Zhanjiang rose the fastest in the ranking of overall competitiveness, rising from No 109 to No 94. Qingyuan improved by nine, and Foshan improved by eight. Maoming dropped the furthest, falling 15 spots from No 116 to No 131. Guangzhou and Dongguan, central cities of the Pearl River Delta, maintained their positions in the ranking list.

In addition, the “happiness index” was introduced for the first time into the ranking of city competitiveness. The report notes Chinese city residents relatively feel happy as a whole. “As shown in the survey, some developed cities do not have a high happiness index,” Ni said.