News outlet Yicai released a ranking of the top 10 Chinese cities with strong consumption in the first three quarters of this year.
Among the 10 cities, seven are from the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which shows the supporting role of the economic area to China's economy has been increasing in recent years, the report said. Last year, the GDP of the economic area totaled 45.78 trillion yuan ($6.92 trillion), accounting for 46.2 percent of the country's GDP, and the proportion increased 2.1 percentage points from a year earlier.
Shanghai took the first spot in the ranking, with total retail sales of consumer goods hitting 1.11 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of this year. In the third quarter, the figure jumped 8.9 percent from the same period last year, and August's data surged 11.5 percent.
Beijing and Chongqing ranked in the second and third spots, with total retail sales of consumer goods at 939 billion yuan and 833 billion yuan, respectively.
The central cities' attraction in consumption to people living in the surrounding cities has been continuously increasing as the high-speed rail network formed. The central cities are full of consumption items, including large-scale concert and sporting events, the report said.
Now, let's take a look at the top 10 cites with strong consumption.