Kunming Qualified as a "New First-tier City"
Source: InKunming | 2023-06-01 | Editor:Amy
On May 30th, the city-oriented big data platform of Yicai Media Group, has released the Ranking of Cities' Business Attractiveness in China 2023. Among the 337 Chinese cities included in the evaluation, the 15 new first-tier cities are Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Suzhou, Xi'an, Nanjing, Changsha, Tianjin, Zhengzhou, Dongguan, Qingdao, Kunming, Ningbo and Hefei.
Kunming made the new first-tier cities list this year after slipping out last year. It replaced Foshan which had rapidly climbed its way up. Among the other new first-tier cities, Qingdao rose three places with the fastest growth rate. Wuhan, Suzhou, and Nanjing each rose one place, while Changsha rose two places. Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Ningbo, and Hefei have all fallen in the rankings. Former new first-tier cities such as Foshan, Shenyang, and Wuxi are currently among the top second-tier cities.
Wanda Twin Towers. Photo by JUMAR
As a city ranking list released for eight consecutive years, the Ranking of Cities' Business Attractiveness has formed a stable dimensional system: based on data from nearly 200 mainstream consumer brands and behavior data from 17 leading internet firms and data institutions, it grades Chinese cities based on five dimensions: concentration of commercial resources index, city as a hub index, urban residents' activity index, lifestyle diversity index, and future potential index. The weight of the first and second dimensions on the list is determined by the scoring of the expert committee of the New First-tier City Research Institute, while the data below the second dimension is analyzed using principal component analysis.
Due to the timeliness of the data, the indicators in the Ranking of Cities' Business Attractiveness mainly use data from the full year of 2022 or up to the beginning of 2023, and there are many uncertain factors that interfere with the results. Nevertheless, the results still show the intense competition between new first-tier cities and second-tier cities at the boundary line.
In 2013, the YiMagazine first introduced the concept of "new first-tier cities," re-evaluating cities based on their commercial attractiveness and population vitality reflected in online data, breaking the traditional way of evaluating cities based on administrative level, GDP, and population size. 10 years later, the Yicai Media Group's updated Ranking of Cities' Business Attractiveness has become a widely cited set of city classification systems in China's urban data research field.
Railway in Kunming. Photo by Yuming
Indicators of Ranking of Cities' Business Attractiveness
The indicator system of the Ranking of Cities' Business Attractiveness includes five primary dimensions: concentration of commercial resources index, city as a hub index, urban residents' activity index, lifestyle diversity index, and future potential index. The weight of the first and second dimensions on the list is determined by the scoring of the expert committee of the New First-tier City Research Institute, while the data below the second dimension is analyzed using principal component analysis.
The concentration of commercial resources index focuses on the big brands' affection index, commercial core index, and basic commerce index. Unlike the previous view that focused on a city's economy and administrative status, current mainstream consumer brands take into account factors such as the quality of the consumer's consumption concept, the atmosphere of urban commercial consumption, and the popularity of the city itself. For example, those outward-facing second-tier cities such as Haikou, Xiamen, and Wuxi are more favored by brands. In terms of space, the physical boundaries of new first-tier city commercial districts are still expanding.
The city as a hub index is composed of the intercity transport facilities index, traffic connectivity index, logistics accessibility index, and business resource regional primacy index. Over the past year, the hub index of southwestern China, especially remote cities, has risen significantly, with Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guizhou highways ranking second, third, and fourth in the country. Due to the instability of logistics stations during the 2022 epidemic, the logistics timeliness of the Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou region and Shanghai has decreased significantly.
The urban residents' activity index measures consumption activity index, online social networking activity index and night life index. It is highly dependent on the tourism industry, and the overall ranking of border cities is most affected. The vitality of take-out orders has returned in Hubei cities such as Huanggang, Yichang, and Ezhou. At the same time, online social activity is least affected, and Taobao Live and Douyin short videos are still in an upward trend of interaction. Against the overall decline in nightlife activity, Guangzhou is the only city where the number of nighttime travelers increased last year.
Pedestrian overpass in Kunming. Photo by Canlanrensheng
The lifestyle diversity index mainly measures public space diversity index, consumption diversity index, and recreation diversity index. The number of coffee shops in cities has increased by nearly 10,000 compared to the same period last year, with over half of the growth occurring in second- and third-tier cities. Despite the reduction in performance venues, theaters are seen as carrying more emotional release and therapeutic value in terms of performance style and mainstream IP. Short videos have helped boost the popularity of second-tier and below cities among more Generation Z.
Future potential index evaluates the innovation index, talent attractiveness index, consumption potential index, and urban scale and growth index. Among new first-tier cities, only Qingdao has moved up three places, while the rankings of other cities have changed by no more than one place. From the perspectives of investment and financing, specialized and innovative cultivation, and industrial chain concentration, cities such as Zhuhai, Ningbo, and Changzhou have shown more prominent data performance. Against the backdrop of the accelerating integration of Guangzhou-Foshan and Shenzhen-Dongguan, the population attraction indexes of four cities in the Pearl River Delta urban cluster rank among the top 10 in the country.
Yunfang. Photo by Yunfang Cultural and Creative Prak
What makes Kunming qualified as a new first-tier city?
Kunming is diverse in cuisine. Kunming is not only a tourist destination but also a favorite place for foodies. Influenced by different ethnic customs, the cuisine is diverse and unique. Various ethnic snacks have their own style of production and can definitely satisfy all your expectations for food. The flavorful steam-pot chicken, delicious ham, tender tofu, and crispy Yiliang roasted duck can amaze your taste buds.
In recent years, Kunming has emerged many new cultural spaces with diverse types and unique characteristics, bringing high-quality cultural experiences to people who live here. By empowering urban space through cultural innovation, it nurtures the urban culture and spiritual of the Spring City. Especially through the creation of new cultural spaces, Kunming's historical culture, traditional customs, ethnic customs, and more have been transformed into a tangible part of people's daily lives, with more vivid and vibrant vitality.
Kunming has a livable ecological environment. "Beautiful mountains and rivers, blue sky and white clouds, pleasant and livable" are the keywords that belong to Kunming. In recent years, Kunming has won awards such as the world's best spring city and the International Garden City Gold Award from the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. The ecological advantage of the Spring City is one of Kunming's important development advantages. The "Spring City" brand is unique and cannot be replicated or compared by other cities. It is also the most core, distinctive, and competitive element in Kunming's urban development. Kunming integrates the resources of scenic spots, wetland parks, historical and cultural sites surrouding Dianchi Lake, and connects them with the Dianchi Lake Greenway to create a large ecological and scenic area, making the "Plateau Pearl" Dianchi Lake shine.
Kunming is bursting with vitality. As the starting point of the China-Laos Railway, in recent years, Kunming has seized the opportunities of the Belt and Road Initiative and the implementation of the RCEP, and has built a modern industrial system with Kunming characteristics, forming billion-level industrial clusters in chemical industry, metallurgy, and other fields. The embryonic forms of three billion-level industrial clusters in new energy batteries, rare and precious metals, and information manufacturing have emerged, promoting high-quality development of Kunming and making it a leader in total economic output among provincial capitals in China.
Kunming is not just a city, but represents a way of life. Kunming is inviting the world to come and experience its charm. Kunming is constantly building itself to become a more attractive and unique highland lakefront city, a truly beautiful ecological and livable home, and a Spring City that the world admires and yearns for.
Click here to view Chinese report
(Editors: Christine, Amy)
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