BEIJING The city of Hangzhou in eastern China with its tech focus is the country's best-performing big city, while Wuhan in central China has also made great strides to become the second-best, according to updated rankings by an independent US think tank.

Hangzhou, the capital of China's affluent Zhejiang province and home to e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, jumped seven spots to become the top performer among first and second-tier cities, according to the Milken Institute's best-performing cities China 2023-2024 index report released on Tuesday.

The city, also home to gaming company NetEase and Geely Auto, has heavily invested in science and technology, the report said.

The think tank also looks at metrics like employment, average wages and gross regional product.

Wuhan soared 27 spots to take second place, with the report noting it has diversified its economy beyond manufacturing by focusing on optoelectronic information science and engineering, biomedicine, new energy and high-tech services.

Directly behind Wuhan were Jinan, Changsha, Chengdu, Nanchang and Hefei - all inland cities that the central government is hoping will provide new economic momentum.

They have increased investments in developing high-tech products and services and have moved away from traditional sources of growth such as investment in infrastructure and polluting heavy industry.

"When I looked at some of the best performing cities five years ago, they were all along the coastal regions...now it's starting to move into the central region a little bit," said Perry Wong, managing director of research at the Milken Institute and author of the report.

The shift is in line with China's push to grow "new productive forces" - a phrase coined by President Xi Jinping last year as he emphasised that innovation should drive economic growth.

  - Reuters