How many Tier 1 cities does China have?

World tier 1 cities refer to those metropolises that have a global economic and political impact. The sheer size of these concentrated urban centers and the economies of scale are the biggest provers of global economic growth. The important status of these tier 1 cities are mainly reflected in various aspects such as the level of urban development, comprehensive economic strength, ability to drive regional economic growth, attractiveness to talents, the scale of information exchange, international competitiveness, scientific and technological innovativeness, and transportation accessibility. The cities’ connectivity is also measured and used to classify cities into levels of world city network integration. On November 13, 2018, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network released a list of world city rankings. A total of six Chinese cities made it to the first-tier (alpha) in the world: Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. And among the total of 55 world-class tier 1 cities in 2018, the indisputable top-ranking cities (alpha++) are London and New York. They stand out as clearly more integrated than all other cities and constitute their own high level of integration. And the top tier (alpha+) cities are Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney, Paris, Dubai, and Tokyo. These highly integrated cities complement London and New York, largely filling in advanced service needs for Pacific Asia.

世界一线城市指的是在全球政治、经济等社会活动中处于重要地位并具有主导辐射带动能力的大都市。其主要体现在城市发展水平、综合经济实力、辐射带动能力、对人才吸引力、信息交流能力、国际竞争力、科技创新能力、交通通达能力等各个层面。 2018年11月13日，GaWC发布2018年世界级城市名册，中国入选世界一线城市一共有香港、北京、上海、台北、广州、深圳六个。而2018年世界级一线城市（55个）中，特等城市分别为伦敦、纽约，一线强城市分别为香港、北京、新加坡、上海、悉尼、巴黎、迪拜、东京。