Chinese Cities - Quality of Life Index

[liuzhou]

Here is a list of the 100 top cities for quality of life.

Unfortunately, they don't give the criteria on which this is judged. My humble abode comes in at No. 95, but I'd rather live here than in almost every city rated higher.

The top ten are 1. Shenzhen, 2. Dongguan, 3. Shanghai, 4. Beijing, 5. Hangzhou, 6. Zhuhai, 7. Ningbo, 8. Suzhou, 9. Guangzhou and 10. Xiamen.

Cities 1-50

Cities 51-100

[flameproof]

Wow, the Shenzhen image looks really weird with that blue sky.

In China I would not really talk about "Quality of Life" and more about "Bearability".

Pity Hong Kong didn't made it into the top 100. It was only a question of time I guess.

[Dani_man]

I'll definitely put Xiamen on the first ten, if not the first one.

After traveling there this is a kind of a city I would like to live in China.

Beijing?! according to the "bearability" scale, can someone bear that city?

Can someone survive this air?

Can an ambulance make his way through these jammed streets to save him?

I guess this quality of life survey was done by living people

[Ian_Lee]

Pity Hong Kong didn't made it into the top 100. It was only a question of time I guess.

Hong Kong is regarded as a 境外 city which technically means it is a Chinese city but doesn't go by China's rules. Therefore most statistics compiled in PRC excludes those data from HK/Macau.

[Peeter]

I clicked on this topic, checking to see if the city I'm going to might be in the top 50. And now I feel all the more happy that I'll be spending my year in China in Shenzhen.

[ms2002sss]

Any chance of someone translating the list into english?

Cheers.

[imron]

Probably not, as it would be boring and tedious, especially because the webpage has added lots of text-noise as the same colour of the background, making it a pain to copy and paste.

Try instead installing Firefox and the Chinesepera-kun, extension which should solve your problem nicely

[liuzhou]

Following the top ten we have:

11、无锡 Wuxi

12、青岛 Qingdao

13、佛山 Foshan

14、大庆 Daqing

15、桂林 Guilin

16、温州 Wenzhou

17、嘉兴 Jiaxing

18、绍兴 Shaoxing

19、烟台 Yantai

20、威海 Weihai

21、昆明 Kunming

22、常州 Changzhou

23、秦皇岛 Qinhuangdao

24、大连 Dalian

25、福州 Fuzhou

26、南京 Nanjing

27、扬州 Yangzhou

28、海口 Haikou

29、台州 Taizhou

30、日照 Rizhao

31、中山 Zhongshan

32、泉州 Quanzhou

33、连云港 Lainyungang

34、哈尔滨 Ha'erbin

35、天津 Tianjin

36、克拉玛依 Kelimayi

37、南通 Nantong

38、乌鲁木齐 Wulumuqi (Urumuqi)

39、镇江 Zhenjiang

40、湛江 Zhanjiang

41、襄樊 Xiangfan

42、玉溪 Yuxi

43、徐州 Xuzhou

44、武汉 Wuhan

45、成都 Chengdu

46、济南 Jinan

47、长春 Changchun

48、长沙 Changsha

49、东营 Dongying

50、保定 Baoding

51、西安 Xi'an

52、太原 Taiyuan

53、唐山 Tangshan

54、淄博 Zibo

55、郑州 Zhengzhou

57、沈阳 Shenyang

58、临沂 Linyi

59、石家庄 ShiJiaZhuang

60、重庆 Chongqing

61、吉林 Jilin

62、潍坊 Weifang

63、汕头 Shantou

64、大同 Datong

65、洛阳 Luoyang

66、合肥 Hefei

67、呼和浩特 HuHeHaoTe (Hohhot)

68、南宁 Nanning

69、盘锦 Panjin

70、茂名 Maoming

71、惠州 Huizhou

72、包头 Baotou

73、泰安 Tai'An

74、荆门 Jingmen

75、宜昌 Yichang

76、十堰 Shiyan

77、泰州 Taizhou

78、马鞍山 Ma'an Shan

79 、南昌 Nanchang.

80、湖州 Huzhou

81、莱芜 Laiwu

82、张家口 ZhangJiaKou

83、兰州 Lanzhou

84、齐齐哈尔 QiQiHa'er

85、抚顺 FuShun

86、淮安 Huai'an

87、芜湖 Wuhu

88、贵阳 Guiyang

89、岳阳 Yueyang　　　　

90、枣庄 ZaoZhuang

91、湘潭 Xiangtan

92、邯郸 Handan

93、本溪 Benxi

94、南阳 Nanyang

95、柳州 Liuzhou

96、株洲 Zhuzhou

97、鞍山 Anshan

98、安阳 Anyang

99、常德 Changde

100、绵阳 Mianyang

[roddy]

What on earth happened to Mianyang. It was top ten 'most livable' back then, now it's 100th in 'quality of life'. Did the government hush up a nuclear attack?

A more skeptical man than myself may query the validity and use of these surveys and perhaps be curious about the extent of hospitality extended to the judges by city leaders.

[Rincewind]

I have to question this list when I see "57、沈阳 Shenyang." If Shenyang is that good the rest must be utterly awful.

I'm currently living in "97、鞍山 Anshan" and I like it here. I wonder what factors they used when making the list?

One flaw that is obvious to me is that quality of life for a Chinese person living in these cities may be very different form the quality of life for a foreign person living there. My personal quality of life in Anshan is much higher than it would be in Beijing because I am effectively quite rich in Anshan where as I'd only be so-so in Beijing.

[simonlaing]

It seems like some of these cities the livability may also depend on your income.

In Shanghai it is one type of life to take taxi's everywhere, party in the expensive bars and restaurants and live in the suburban villas. It is another life style to take buses and cough, cough, bicycles around the city.

I would think for a mid range income kunming and Guilin might score higher.

Nanjing is nice but 16 is not a bad score.

We should do a forum top ten.

Roddy can you make a poll that does that?

have fun,

SimoN:)

[muyongshi]

What on earth happened to Mianyang. It was top ten 'most livable' back then, now it's 100th in 'quality of life'. Did the government hush up a nuclear attack?

No roddy no nuclear attack or explosion. I haven't turned green yet and all limbs are still in place anyway. I am a bit suspicious about our river though....

It still is in the top 10 of "Cleanest Cities" is how everyone here brags about it but in quality of life...well we only have 1 western chain restraunt so we must not be too bearable. Or maybe it's all the old ladies screaming in 四川话.

Go Mianyang! (I still don't know why it makes any list)

[david1978]

Most of the important points have already been made: 1) we know nothing of the criteria on which this survey is based; and 2) we are limited to a foreigner's perspective. Having said that, I was surprised to see Nanjing rate as high as number 16, a city I found to be intolerably lame and boring, while Xi'an scored as low as 51 with all its rich history, aesthetics, and cuisine. Go figure.

[wushijiao]

How did Shenzhen beat Shanghai?

I bet this poll was highly influened by GDP per capita. I used to teach graduating seniors at a college in Henan five years ago, and almost all of the students planned to go to Shanghai, Shenzhen, a few to the major cities in Zhejiang, a few to Beijing, and only a few planned to stay to Henan. A "brain drain" for Henan, of sorts.

But anyway, I think that what the students percieved as the places where they could best pursue their careers is pretty similar to this list.

[muyongshi]

wushijiao

You get the prize for figuring out the connection! (at least what you said made sense)

That would make Mianyang make some sense. Thank you Changhong!

[venture160]

The nicest cities that I have seen in China are Dalian and Yantai.. but I haven't really had a chance to travel much. Is it safe to assume the nicer cities are all on the coast?

[roddy]

For what it's worth, generally the richer cities are in the east / on the coast.

[muyongshi]

Mianyang is a rule breaker! Ha ha ha. My city rocks!

[tigerfish]

My city Xi'an 51??

[imron]

Do you think it should be higher or lower? Why not take the time to explain your reasons