Shanghai has been hailed as the "most competitive city in China" for four years in a row, topping 358 Chinese cities.
China Institute of City Competitiveness (CICC), a Hong Kong based international academic organization, released its annual report on the rankings of Chinese cities on Tuesday.
Shanghai's total GDP was nearly 2 trillion yuan (about 281billion USD) with a growth rate of 6.7 percent for the first three quarters in 2016, which ranked first among Chinese cities, Southmoney.com reported.
According to research released by the Development Research Centre of Shanghai in December last year, Shanghai's economy has been growing steadily and has functioned better than anticipated, Xinhua reported.
Shanghai is followed by Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
The ranking criteria are based on four factors: economy, social conditions, environment, and culture, which include 276 indicators in total.
Gui Qiangfang, president of CICC, said Hong Kong's economy has been steadily improving over the past year, but the growth rate of the economy has slowed down because of internal strife within society.
Shenzhen has shown great potential with a GDP growth rate of 8.7 percent in 2016, Gui said.
The other cities on the top 10 list include Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Tianjin, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing.
Established in 1998, CICC specializes in the study of urban competitiveness and provides consultation and evaluation services for improving competitiveness.
