(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) -US Forbes Magazine has revealed that Shanghai has reclaimed the title "Best City for Business" in central China after three years.
A Forbes magazine ranking showed earlier Wednesday that the city's improved position comes as the competitiveness of export-oriented cities in South China declines amid the sluggish global recovery.
The survey, which was the ninth of its kind, ranked 100 cities, evaluating eight factors that could affect business strength, such as labor, transport, costs, innovation and the size of private economy.
Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which ranked first and second last year, gave up their leading positions to East China's Shanghai and Hangzhou, reflecting the fact that Guangdong province has been hit hard by the country's deteriorating foreign trade situation.
The magazine rated 100 major Chinese cities in the categories of human resources, purchasing power, transportation and logistics, operating costs, private business activity and innovation, hoping to help business owners and investors as well as local officials to understand their city's strengths and weaknesses.
It adjusted the number of factors it took into account when evaluating a city's human resources, which raised the rankings of cities with a high number of students graduating this year, according to Nanjing's Yangtse Evening Post.
Shanghai regained the top position after three years and was followed by Hangzhou and Shenzhen. Guangzhou, ranked No. 4, and Shenzhen both saw their exports significantly affected by slow global economic recovery.
Wuxi in Jiangsu province rose to fifth place due to improved transportation and technological innovations, helping the city surpass Nanjing and Ningbo, which were ranked sixth and seventh respectively. Beijing and Suzhou followed in eighth and ninth. Suzhou's ranking was down by one place but its number of patent applications and certificates grew by around 30% and 45% respectively in 2011, the highest rate in the country. Suzhou replaced Shenzhen as the most innovative city for the first time.
Meanwhile, many cities in central China rose significantly on the Forbes' list due to their abundant human resources, lower operating costs and good transportation. Cities such as the Gansu provincial capital Lanzhou, Urumqi in Xinjiang and Mianyang in Sichuan, a hub of electronics and national defense research, made into the top 100 for the first time.
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