City ranks fifth in urban competitiveness

Shenzhen is now the third-largest city in China with the most QR-code businesses, Alipay announced at a conference regarding businesses using QR codes held in Fuzhou, capital city of Fujian Province. Chen Shu

Following New York, Los Angeles, Singapore and London, Shenzhen is in fifth place for urban competitiveness among 1,007 cities around the world, according to a report jointly released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the United Nations Human Settlements Program (U.N.-Habitat) on Monday.

The other 15 cities in the top 20 are San Jose, Munich, San Francisco, Tokyo, Houston, Hong Kong, Dallas, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Seoul, Dublin, Miami, Boston, Beijing and Frankfurt.

According to the report, the urban competitiveness of Chinese cities has been increasing in general as five metropolises in China have made it into the top 20 and a total of 18 Chinese cities are ranked in the top 100.

The report assessed 1,007 cities around the world with populations over 500,000 across multiple indexes. It indicated that in general, all cities around the world have seen significant improvements in urban competitiveness since the economic crisis in 2008.

According to the report, the top 20 cities on the list play vital roles in influencing the global economy as these cities generate the most wealth with less population. The total GDP produced by the top 20 cities accounts for 15 percent of the global GDP, while the population only accounts for about 3 percent.

For the first time, the number of Asian cities in the top 20 matches the cities in North America.

Within the country, Shenzhen has the third most businesses accepting QR-code payment, according to the Shenzhen Economic Daily.

At a conference regarding businesses using QR codes held in Fuzhou, capital city of Fujian Province, from Sunday to yesterday, Alipay, one of the major sponsors of the conference, announced that Shenzhen is now the third-largest city in China with the most QR-code businesses.

The year of 2018 is regarded as the first year of QR-code business development, since more small- and medium-sized businesses have begun accepting online payments via QR codes.