Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing have been named the three most livable cities in China.
According to the Chinese Cities Livability Development Index Report, jointly released on Tuesday by three institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the coastal city of Shenzhen led the 2016-2017 table with a general score of 0.706.
Shanghai, the nation's financial centre, and the capital city of Beijing followed, with scores of 0.662 and 0.660 respectively.
The report measured 287 major Chinese cities and compared their performance in five areas: economic development, social management, residents' livelihoods, innovation and entrepreneurship, and ecological environment.
Shenzhen fared best in economic development and social management, but fell to 83rd in the livelihood category, which focuses on citizens' ability to buy a house, the quality of education, access to medical care and public opinion concerning the quality of life.
Beijing scored first in innovation, but slumped to 156th in the livelihood category and 137th in environment, mainly due to its notoriously high house prices and hazardous smog in autumn and winter.
Shanghai also performed poorly in these two categories, but was among top three in the economic, social and innovation indexes.