For expats, Shanghai tops list for desirability

Shanghai has for the third time topped the list of the 10 most attractive Chinese cities for expats, on a survey being released on Monday.

The financial hub scored highest in the ranking's four important indexes for foreigners to evaluate cities, including the policies for foreign professionals, the working environment and the living environment.

The other nine cities on the list are, in order from No 2, Beijing, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Xiamen and Kunming.

This is the fifth time the ranking, organized by the International Talent magazine and China Society for Research on International Professional Personnel Exchange and Development, has been released. Between July and December, nearly 20,000 foreign professionals throughout China participated in the survey.

Shanghai has become one of the hottest destinations in China for foreigners to work and study and has more than 88,000 resident foreign experts, one-sixth of the national total.

Noyan Rona, 59, of Turkey, the chief representative of Turkish Garanti Bank's Shanghai office, has lived in the city for almost 20 years.

Rona named some reasons he loved Shanghai: It "is more open; people here are flexible; and it's convenient to reside here. The forestation, the working efficiency and transparency of the governmental offices - all these are good."

The report also cited several aspects that expats thought Shanghai could improve.

About 40 percent said the environment in Shanghai - such as the air and water quality - is not good enough; 14.3 percent hoped for improvements in the service provided by the government, the social security system and the infrastructure, such as the traffic system.

More than half of the respondents hoped departments or organizations in Shanghai would improve medical insurance and service for foreigners, and simplify the procedures for them to enter the country.

Wang Huiyao, director of the China Center for Globalization, a think tank in Beijing, said, "Chinese cities' attraction to foreigners will increase dramatically if the government takes a step forward in issues such as medical insurance, visas and green cards."

zhaoxinying@chinadaily.com.cn