The list of 2019 China's Top 100 Cities compiled by Warton Economic Institute, was unveiled recently. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen rank the top four with the strongest comprehensive strength. Hangzhou and Suzhou rank the fifth and sixth, followed by Chengdu, Tianjin, Wuhan and Nanjing.

With a total of 15 cities in the list, Shandong ranks first of the country. It is worth noting that Qingdao, a coastal city of Shandong province, ranks the 14th and Jinan, the capital city of the province, ranks 19th, both among the top 20. In addition, the province has another 13 cities included in the list, namely, Yantai (24th), Weifang (38th), Zibo(42th), Dongying(50th), Weihai(52th), Jining(58th), Tai'an(63rd), Linyi(71st), Liaocheng(78th), Dezhou(81st), Binzhou(85th), Heze(94th), and Zaozhuang(97th).

It has been five years since the list of the top 100 cities was first released in 2015. Based on the top 100 cities in terms of GDP, the list re-ranks the cities according to economic indicators (61.8%) and soft economic indicators (38.2%). The economic indicators consist of GDP, household savings and fiscal revenue, while the soft economic indicators contain environment, science and education, culture and health.