HONG KONG: Hong Kong has earned top spot as the country's most competitive city in an annual study by the China Institute of City Competitiveness.

The institute studied the competitiveness of 289 cities in terms of economy, education and technological advancement, business and financial market development, among other things.

Hong Kong topped the world-class cosmopolitan city rankings as well, followed by Shanghai and Beijing.

Institute chairman Gui Qiangfang described Hong Kong as an international finance center that is unlikely to lose the top spot any time soon.

He cautioned that the city could not afford to rest on its laurels since Shanghai's GDP is growing and may soon surpass that of Hong Kong.

"If Hong Kong continues to have a negative economic growth, it may find itself superceded by Shanghai soon in terms of GDP."

Meanwhile, Hong Kong remained in second place in creativity rankings, outranked only by Shenzhen.

Institute vice-chairman Raymond Tse said this did not indicate Hong Kong's creativity was inferior, but rather a reflection of how the creativity of Shenzhen is increasing rapidly.

Qingdao was named the city most suitable to live in. Yantai was crowned the most beautiful city in the country, with "heavenly" scenic views, followed by Guangzhou.

The China Institute of City Competitiveness was founded in 1998 in Hong Kong, with the aim of studying the sustained development and competitiveness of various Chinese cities.

(HK Edition 07/09/2009 page1)