Milken ranks the best and worst performing cities in China

Milken has released their first "Best-Performing Cities China" report, comparing 266 cities in China based on actual economic performance rather than projected success.

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, was ranked the "unrivaled" number one among major cities, citing its human capital, focus on high-tech and improved transportation networks.

Chengdu made the top 10 in seven out of nine categories: one-year job growth, five-year job growth, one-year wage growth, five-year wage growth, five-year gross regional product per capita growth, three-year foreign direct investment growth and foreign direct investment as a ratio of gross regional product.

Long a cradle of military manufacturing, the city has established industries in high-end aerospace and aircraft design. Chengdu also hosts half of the Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, Intel and Microsoft.

Second on the ranking was Shanghai, which was boosted by the development of the Free Trade Zone and the linkage between the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges, which has facilitated the flow of capital in both Chinese and global markets, the report said.

The next cities in the ranking were Tianjin, Dalian, Nanjing, Hefei, Xiamen, Changchun, Chongqing and Shenzhen.

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