Economist Ren Zeping and his team published a report ranking top 10 cities with great development potential in the Chinese mainland.

Urban agglomeration led by the central city is more productive, as well as has advantage in saving land and energy, which is the main platform to support Chinese economy, said the report.

Among the top 100 cities with development potential, 89 are located in 19 big urban agglomerations.

Currently, China has 10 metropolitan areas with over 30 million people, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen; 11 metropolitan areas with 20-30 million people, including Hefei, Chengdu and Hangzhou; and 13 metropolitan areas with 10-20 million people, including Xi'an and Ningbo.

The 34 metropolitan areas are attracting China's 63 percent permanent residents to create 78 percent of the country's GDP in 18.6 percent of the country's land. Moreover, most metropolitan areas are in continuous influx of population.

According to the report, the metropolitan areas of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing and Guangzhou have the highest development potential in 2022, and the Yangtze River Delta region, Pearl River Delta region and Beijing metropolitan area have the largest economic scale and leading industrial innovation.

Now, let's take a look at the top 10 cities with great development potential in the Chinese mainland.