Beijing ranks 8th city with most global appeal

Beijing, for the first time, breaks into the top ten global cities ranked by Chicago-based consulting firm AT Keamey Inc. due to increasing business appeals despite worsening air pollutions.

The capital city of China landed at the 8th place of the annual ranking, a jump from 14th two years ago and 12th in 2008. New York and London topped the list for the fourth straight time.

"What we've seen over time is strong business activity and heavyweight political influence are a combination of attributes which really propel cities and Beijing is a perfect example of this," said Andreas Mendoza Pena, a principal at AT Kearney. "We see Beijing continuing its upward trend."

Shanghai, at 18 in the index, is the only city in mainland China that comes even close to Beijing and it bests Beijing in human capital, given its larger foreign-born population, greater number of inhabitants with tertiary education and higher number of international schools.

Shanghai rose from the 21st place last year.

Mainland China's integration in the global economy is reflected in the index as Beijing and Shanghai climb the ranking, other key cities in Asia including HK, Taipei, Singapore and Seoul have remained stagnant or declined in relative terms.

The firm's index was based on 26 metrics of how well municipalities spawn, attract and retain talent. The top 10 was rounded out by Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Chicago, Singapore and Washington. Brussels and Seoul dropped into the second 10.