Ranking of perception of technology in Chinese cities(2022)

Two years ago, I used a method called “Who do you think you are?” to create the “Ranking of Perception of Urban Science and Technology in China”. I will not go into the specifics of the methodology here, but if you are interested, you can view it by clicking on “Original Posts” on the public account page.

So after two years of the pandemic, plus a bigger sample size, has there been any change in the rankings?

Let’s take a look at the results: The top 20 positions are generally stable, except that Wuhan overtook Chengdu, Wuxi and Xiamen surpassed Jinan.

The concentration of the top 20 cities has further significantly increased, perhaps indicating that technology development in third, fourth and fifth tier cities is indeed difficult, as attracting talent requires multiple conditions.

The overall ranking includes over 300 prefecture-level administrative regions, but due to the large statistical error for subscriptions below 0.05%, only rankings up to 161 are listed below.

At the same time, I added the 2021 per capita GDP figures for the top 20 rankings. We can see that the rankings of per capita GDP and SCI do not completely match. The reversal mainly occurs between the high GDP of Jiangsu (red) and the low GDP of the central and western regions (blue).

(Note: Hong Kong and Taiwan are not part of the Simplified Chinese information circle, resulting in distortion.)

What I particularly want to draw the readers’ attention to is that the Science Perception Ranking of Shanghai still maintains its leading position in the Yangtze River Delta region, demonstrating the city’s pivotal role in science, technology, and the economy.

With this article, I offer encouragement to the people of Shanghai who have suffered through the pandemic. May Shanghai soon emerge from its cocoon and return in glory.