1.City status

Beijing and Shanghai top the city status ranking with overwhelming leads. Following them, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Wuhan round out the top 10. Compared with the 2018 index, Beijing and Shanghai have maintained their top two positions, while Tianjin, Chongqing and Shenzhen have climbed higher in the ranking. It is worth noting that Shenzhen has moved from ninth to sixth in the 2019 ranking.

The city status dimension not only looks at a city's administrative levels, but also evaluates its status and performance in some key indexes like the Belt and Road initiative, and some National Strategies like the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Integrated Development.

Therefore, we have established three sub-dimensions including administrative function, megalopolis & metropolitan area, and the Belt and Road, which are supported by eight major indicating data sets namely administrative level, embassy & consulate, international organizations, megalopolis levels, core cities levels, metropolitan area levels, geological indexes under the Belt and Road, and historical status.

(1)Administrative function

The top 10 cities in this sub-dimension are Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Tianjin, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu and Wuhan, demonstrating the advantage of national capital, municipalities, and provincial cities in this ranking.

(2)Megalopolis & metropolitan area

The top 10 cities in this sub-dimension are Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Hefei, illustrating the advantage of major megalopolises like the Yangtze River Delta Megalopolis, the Pearl River Delta Megalopolis, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Megalopolis, and Chengdu-Chongqing Megalopolis.

(3)The Belt and Road

The top 10 cities in this sub-dimension are Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Urumqi, Kunming, Nanjing, Lhasa, Xi'an and Tianjin. Compared with the 2018 figures, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Nanjing have remained their places, while Guangzhou, Urumqi, Kunming, Lhasa and Xi'an have climbed higher in the ranking. Cities along the Belt and Road and those with frequent trade and investment and people's movement tend to score higher in this sub-dimension.