Chinese Cities of Opportunity 2022

Opportunities for digitalisation and sustainable development

As a major hallmark of civilisation in modern society, cities serve as key hubs of social, economic, and daily activity. The "Chinese Cities of Opportunity" report is designed to observe and record the process of urban development, uncover the potential of cities, and offer insights into opportunities. This report, jointly published by PwC China and the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF), examines the development process and opportunities of Chinese cities from a global perspective. It provides comprehensive observations of the development characteristics and reality of Chinese cities in multiple dimensions. In keeping with the rapid pace of China's new-type urbanisation, eight editions of the report were released from 2014 to 2021. 

Stepping into 2022, new-type urbanisation has entered a new stage of high-quality development. In years to come, the focus of China's urban development should be placed on driving the development of metropolitan areas and urban clusters led by central cities, promoting coordinated regional development, and boosting green development. These are also the focal points of this report. In step with the rapid development of Chinese cities, the scope of cities we monitor has been expanding over the years, from 15 in 2014 to 47 in 2021. This year, we have continued our efforts to observe and analyse the 47 selected cities.

Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou are still the four cities with the greatest degree of development and overall strength. These cities led the way in every observed dimension. Those closely followed cities are Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Suzhou, and Wuhan, whose relatively stable performance keeps them in the top ten. Specifically, Wuhan and Nanjing are among the top five in the dimension of "intellectual capital"; Hangzhou comes in fifth in the dimensions of "technology and innovation", "culture and quality of life", "economic clout" and "ease of doing business"; Chongqing comes third place in "major regional cities"; and Suzhou ranks third in "transportation and urban planning" and "ease of doing business" and fifth in "sustainable development". In the dimensions of "transportation and urban planning" and "sustainable development", Xiamen, Nanjing, Chengdu, Ningbo, and Dongguan are among the top five, demonstrating their comparative advantage in development potential. 

Top 5 cities by dimensions: