Rachel Hou/Shanghai Daily news

Hong Kong is China's most competitive city in terms of overall strength, followed by Shenzhen and Shanghai, according to a report released yesterday.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Science Academic Press surveyed 200 cities on overall strength, including market size, economic growth, production efficiency, resource conservation, economic structure and living standard. Hong Kong tops the list, followed by Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Taipei, Wuxi, Suzhou, Foshan and Macao.

Shanghai outranks the other cities in terms of capital investment and infrastructure development, but only ranks as the tenth and eighth in terms of efficiency and quality competence. Hong Kong, Macao and Taipei are the top three cities in terms of efficiency competence and Hong Kong, Tainan and Keelung are the top three in terms of overall quality.

According to the report, the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta remain China's economic powerhouses, while economic gaps between different regions still persist.