Changsha 15th on Forbes list of best cities for business

Changsha, capital city of Central China's Hunan province, is now the 15th best city in the Chinese mainland for business, according to Forbes China. 

The city surpassed Tianjin Municipality and Dalian, in Liaoning province, and outperformed its peers in Central China on the 2017 list, with outstanding performance in talent, consumption ability, and the vitality of its private business community.

Since 2004, Forbes has ranked cities by evaluating indexes such as human resources, urban scale, consumption ability, passenger traffic, freight transport, vitality of private economy, operating costs and innovation. 

Rounding out the top 10 in the list were Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Nanjing, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Suzhou, Qingdao and Hangzhou. 

Various factors contributed to the improvement of Changsha's ranking and its continually increasing business competitiveness. They include the national strategy emphasizing the rise of Central China, the city's favorable geographical position and its enhanced efforts in urban construction. 

One strong piece of evidence that Changsha has become a hotbed for business in China is that Sam's Club, Wal-Mart's high-end membership store, landed there for the first time last September, with a second to arrive soon.

Opening in September of 2017, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart's high-end membership store offers a large variety of imported and high-quality goods to Changsha residents. [Photo/icswb.com] 

Some of Changsha's international retail stores offering luxury brands such as Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Cartier also recorded growth by leaps and bounds in recent years, as did its discount-oriented stores.

The level of retail sales demonstrates that Changsha's market is full of vitality.

Improving commercial systems and facilities, strong consumption powers, and people's increasing income, among other factors, have beefed up the market, according to an official at the Changsha bureau of commerce. 

In recent years, Changsha also experienced expansion in its commercial service industry, gaining total retail sales of consumer goods at 454.7 billion yuan ($71.81 billion) in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 10.5 percent. 

The city still has huge market potential since consumption patterns and commercial activities continue to emerge and the consumption system keeps bettering.

Another factor is that Changsha has been stepping up efforts to build itself into a transportation hub, which converges more people, goods and funds in the city.