Survey: Shanghai best-known Chinese city

BEIJING, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A survey co-conducted by Gallup Inc. indicated that of 30 Chinese cities, Shanghai scored highest in international image.

The survey, begun in April and released Monday, conducted via an online questionnaire to 7,980 foreigners living in the Chinese mainland and abroad, showed that Shanghai, the country's financial hub, was the most well-known city, the Beijing China Daily reported.

Each city must be judged by more than 200 foreigners on average for the sample to be valid for scientific research, said Wu Tao, chief consultant for Gallup Consulting China.

Attractiveness, culture, environment, citizen qualities, security, traffic, individuality, integrity, government efficiency, investment value, development potential and internationalization level were the 12 criteria on which the cities were rated, China Daily said.

Shanghai and Beijing came in first in making a good general impression on foreigners. Shanghai ranked first for most criteria, including integrity, government efficiency, investment value, development potential and internationalization level.

The city of Chengdu ranked third, with its citizen qualities scoring the highest of all 30 cities.

In security, however, Shanghai came in 9th.

"According to previous researches conducted by our department, the crime rate of a place is proportional to its floating population. As Shanghai is such an international cosmopolitan city, where hundreds come and go every day, the possibility of crime is much higher," said Wu Yuhong, criminal law execution professor at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.

"Shanghai's crime rate has been on the rise in recent years. Property crimes are the most prevalent," he said.

The main cause of the Shanghai's deteriorating security is the widening income gap between the rich and the poor, Wu said.