According to the 2005 China's city competitiveness blue book, in which 200 cities of China (Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan region excluded) were ranked in terms of their comprehensive competitiveness, the top ten cities are: Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, Hangzhou and Ningbo of east China's Zhenjiang Province, Suzhou and Wuxi of east China's Jiangsu Province, Xiamen and Tianjin.

The book was completed by nearly 100 experts from the Institute of Finance and Trade Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and published by Social Sciences Academic Press (China) (SSAP). Quantitative analysis was conducted on 12 sub-categories for the top 50 cities with the most comprehensive competitiveness.

In terms of the competitiveness of human resources, the top ten cities are Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Tianjin, Shenyang, Wuhan and Nanjing.

With regard to the competitiveness of science and technology, the top ten are Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Tianjin, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Shenzhen, Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province and Changchun, capital city of northeast China's Jilin Province.

Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Wuxi, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen, Chengdu, Shanghai and Beijing are the most competitive ten cities in terms of environment.

Since 2003, the institution has assessed the competitiveness of Chinese cities, gauging gross domestic product growth, infrastructure building and employment among the main indicators.

An important finding of the "blue book" is the emergence of industrial clusters in China, which are claimed emerging engines powering the country's economy.

Geographically speaking, industrial clusters have formed around booming cities and towns in Northeast China, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Shandong Peninsula, Jiangsu-Shanghai-Zhejiang and the Pearl River Delta in the south, said Ni Pengfei, one of the experts who completed the report.

Cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou, where industrial clusters have developed, also led in terms of per capita income, Ni said.

With extensive case studies, the study shows how industrial clusters absorb labours, speed up urbanization, narrow the income gap between urban and rural areas, and help economize on energy.

"Therefore, with this report, we'd like to appeal to the central authorities to prioritize development of industrial clusters -- as a national strategy," said Ni.

Industrial clusters may also fill the vacuum left behind by the elimination of preferential policies for development zones following China's accession to the World Trade Organization.