(Yicai Global) May 30 -- The Rising Lab, the city-oriented big data platform of Yicai Media Group, has released the Ranking of Cities' Business Attractiveness in China 2023.

The ranking makes use of data from nearly 200 mainstream consumer brands, user behavior data from 17 leading internet firms, and big data from institutional providers to assess the development of 337 Chinese cities based on five indexes -- concentration of commercial resources, city as a hub, urban residents' activity, lifestyle diversity, and future potential.

The 2023 edition mostly uses data from 2022 or early 2023.

Shanghai tops the list of China's first-tier cities, followed by Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

Chengdu ranked first in the new first-tier cities, followed by Chongqing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Suzhou, Xi'an, Nanjing, Changsha, Tianjin, Zhengzhou, Dongguan, Qingdao, Kunming, Ningbo, and Hefei.

Kunming, the capital of China's southern Yunnan province, made the new first-tier cities list this year after slipping out last year. It replaced Foshan in southern Guangdong province, which had rapidly climbed its way up.

Yicai released the first version of the Ranking of Cities' Business Attractiveness in China in 2016 but had coined the term ‘new first-tier city’ three years before. 

"In the next few years, many indicators of multiple second-tier cities in China will reach the same level as what first-tier cities have now," Yicai wrote on the cover of the edition of China Business News Weekly published on Aug. 5, 2013. “Large companies are looking for these cities and trying to contribute to their upgrading. We name them new first-tier cities.”

Ten years ago, the new first-tier cities Yicai selected were Hangzhou, Tianjin, Chengdu, Suzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing, Qingdao, Nanjing, Shenyang, Dalian, and other five cities. Since then, we have seen the rise of Chengdu and Chongqing and the unexpected appearance of emerging central cities, but also the slowdown and decline of northern cities.

Over the past 10 years, new business formats and a new generation of consumers have arisen, driving the development of brands and cities. First-tier cities are no longer the only attractive ones, as more and more lower-tier cities can offer youngsters competitive jobs and salaries. 

Lower-tier cities have tried to accelerate their economic growth by following the direction of first-tier cities, at times at the expense of their individuality. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not.

There is no right or wrong path to development, but what is sure is that every Chinese city has its own landscape, residents, history, traditions, unique personality, and temperament, and can be attractive in its own way.

Editor: Futura Costaglione