— This is the script of CNBC's news report for China's CCTV on December 13, 2018, Thursday.
If you look closely at the 2018 report on China's urban business environment, you can find that the latest ranking trends and the observations of international mainstream research institutions coincide. For example, in the assessment of first-tier cities, Shanghai and Beijing continue to increase their international influence
According to the world bank's 2019 report on running business, running business environment of the Chinese mainland is 32 places higher than that of last year, ranking among the top 50 economies in the world, ranking 46th on a month-on-month basis, and one of the economies with the most improved running business environment.
The world bank's running business report takes Shanghai and Beijing as sample cities in mainland China, with 55 percent weighting in Shanghai and 45 in Beijing. This shows that the two major cities have made significant progress in evaluating the global business environment. Another mutually reinforcing trend is that, in addition to China's municipalities, which are directly under the central government, more and more provincial capitals are also drawing international attention for improving their business environment.
For example, in the world's top 100 most influential cities of Global City Report issued by Kearney Management Consulting Companies in the middle of the year, Hong Kong ranked fifth, Beijing 9th, Shanghai 19th, Guangzhou 71st, Shenzhen 79th, Tianjin 87th, Nanjing 88th, Chengdu 89th. In addition, Wuhan, Dalian, Qingdao, Xi 'An, Chongqing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Harbin are on the list.
It's worth noting that six of the seven cities that made the list in 2018 were Chinese cities, including Ningbo, Changsha, Wuxi, Foshan, Yantai and Tangshan, another one is Seattle.
In terms of the overall city classification, the Brookings institution's global urban observation believes that five different types of cities in China drive the national economic growth.
The first is Beijing and Shanghai, these two mega-cities and economic giants. The second category is pillar cities, consisting of 14 metropolitan areas with a total production value of $200bn, including nine provincial municipalities and provincial capitals, and five coastal cities with the world's busiest container terminals. The third category is six urban areas in the northeast; representing China's coal and steel industries and other heavy industries. The fourth category is the service cities where the service sector accounts for a larger proportion of the total economic output than the industry, and the fifth category is the industrial cities where the industry accounts for a larger proportion of the total economic output than the service sector.
According to the Brookings institution, megacities and 14 pillar cities performed well, with service cities outperforming industrial cities. The changing business environment and growth trend among these different cities also reflect the transformation and upgrading of China's economy.
Finally, I would like to mention that the international and domestic views on the development of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao are optimistic.
PWC's 2018 opportunity city report also listed Guangzhou as a model city surpassing Shenzhen in terms of "regional important city" and "economic influence."
Finally, the Oxford economics institute predicts that by 2035, the GDP of all cities in China will exceed that of all cities in North America or Europe. It can be predicted that the report on the business environment of Chinese cities in 2018 may serve as a reference for international investment.