Oh dear, this report in the ‘official mouthpiece’ People’s Daily says that the capital has slipped out of the top-10 Chinese cities for quality of life.:

Beijing is the nation’s capital, but according to a recent survey, it does not even rank in China’s top 10 cities in terms of suitability for living.

The city came 15th in the list, as compared to third in 2004, due to its bad traffic, high housing prices and heavy pollution.

Coastal city Dalian in Northeast China was selected as China’s most suitable city for living, followed by Xiamen, also a coastal city, in East China’s Fujian Province.

Following were Mianyang in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province and the provincial capital Chengdu; Wuhan, provincial capital of Hubei; Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang; Shanghai; Nanjing, provincial capital of Jiangsu Province; Qingdao in Shandong Province; and Chongqing Municipality.

Beijing was not the only other well-known city to miss the top 10: Tianjin, Shenzhen, Xi’an and Guangzhou also lost out.

The list was compiled last month by Beijing-based polling agency Horizon Group after interviewing 3,434 urban residents aged between 18-65, and 1,604 investors.

The urban habitable index, which takes traffic, environment, social welfare and security into account, averaged 65.7 out of 100 points. “The findings indicated that there is much room for improvement in Chinese cities,” the polling agency said.

The agency listed major problems faced by Chinese cities such as shortage of housing supplies, tough job markets, lack of or poor waste water and garbage treatment, and pollution.

This is actually great news for China. When tourists start arriving in 2008, authorities can further boost national tourism by stating: “Enjoy Beijing… and be sure to visit any of these 14 other cities, they’re much nicer.”

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