File photo: The CBD and nearby port area in the coastal city of Xiamen in southeast China’s Fujian province.

Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and other major cities in China are driving the growth of more city groups, according to Chinese Cities of Opportunity 2018, an observation report released Tuesday.

Jointly issued by China Development Research Foundation and PwC, a famed big accounting company, the report adopted ten dimensions to observe four megacities and another 26 booming cities in China.

The report explains that Beijing ranks at the top among four megacities in China, followed by Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

The four behemoths have played a significant leading role as the core cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Economic Belt Zone and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and have also driven the rise of more city groups, quoting the report.

Beijing, the capital city of China, takes the lead in five aspects, such as intellectual capital, innovation, technological maturity, health, safety and security, traffic, urban planning and economic impact, says the report.

As China’s largest business and financial center, Shanghai ranks at the top regarding its status as a major regional city and for its sound business environment.

Shenzhen has enjoyed advantages through its reform and opening up over the past four decades and has now outpaced Guangzhou in terms of economic development and enterprise development, said Jun Jin, a strategy consulting partner in PwC China.

However, the two cities in south China’s Guangdong province will benefit from the coordinated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, the partner added.

PwC has been cooperating with the China Development Research Foundation since 2014 to select cities in China as samples for further comprehensive comparison and study. This is the fifth year to publish Chinese Cities of Opportunity.