Beijingers had mixed reactions to news that the capital has been declared China's "most competitive city" in terms of living environment.

The ranking was reached in the 2010 Annual Report on Urban Competitiveness, a study released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in Beijing on Monday and Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Beijing fared well in several categories, ranking first for transportation, second for shopping, health and entertainment and third for education. However, the capital tripped up when it came to housing conditions and ecological environment, failing to make the top 10 for either.

Though missing out in some areas, Beijing still overwhelmingly beat Shanghai and Hong Kong overall, ranking as the most competitive city for living environment.

Most people who spoke to METRO on the streets of the capital were surprised by the news and some were incredulous.

"Beijing? Is it true? Are you sure?" said graduate student Liu Yuxuan, who had lived in the capital for more than 20 years.

"Oh my god! Is there any living environment worse than sand storms and stress in combination?" said primary school teacher Yao Di.

Responding to the skepticism Xie Haisheng, assistant to the chief editor of the report, said the ranking in the report was a reasonable one.

"All the conclusions we have made are based on theories, objective data, and subjective questionnaires together," Xie said. "The report is a result of collective wisdom and scientific calculation and research, thus is credible."

Xie also stood by the capital's poor ranking for housing conditions and ecological environment - emphasizing that they were only a small part of the overall rank. "But thanks for the advice, we will consider upgrading the weighting for livelihood-related factors more in the future," he said.

But while some Beijingers took the city's high rank with a pinch of salt, others were not surprised.

A 28-year-old British man working for a non-profit organization in the capital, who had been in the city for six years, told METRO: "I think the rank is reasonable on the whole.

"It would not be fair if we just focused on a single aspect of the city, such as its housing or pollution."

A businessman in his 50s, surnamed Wu, who has lived in Beijing for more than 30 years, told METRO: "I am not surprised.

"In additional to their physical needs, people's psychological needs can also be fulfilled by living in Beijing. It has a rich cultural environment and high educational standards.

"Otherwise how can we explain the perpetual flow of people into this city?"

More than 100 experts on urban competitiveness from research institutes in the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao spent more than half a year writing the report.

The living environment competitiveness listing was reached after experts looked at several categories used to measure China's cities. The yardsticks included housing conditions, shopping, transportation, education, health, entertainment and ecological environment.