There's another piece of good news for Donald Tsang, who was re-elected top leader of Hong Kong yesterday: The special administrative region maintained its position as the most competitive Chinese city, followed by its northern neighbour Shenzhen and regional rival Shanghai.

Taipei slid to the sixth place from the second slot in 2005, while Beijing retained its fourth place in overall competitiveness.

The findings were released yesterday in an annual report on urban competitiveness published by the Social Sciences Academic Press in Beijing.

"Judging from our studies over the past three years, Hong Kong's role as a bellwether of urban competitiveness in China remains intact, but several cities in Taiwan declined drastically in the tally," said Ni Pengfei, lead author of the report.

The report on 200 Chinese cities factored in volume and growth of gross domestic product (GDP), efficiency of resources use, pollution control, R&D investment as well as per capita income.

In 2005, Taiwan cities, including Taipei, Kaohsiung, Hsinchu and Keelong, beat most of their mainland counterparts to join the leaders' pack of China's most competitive cities, according to Ni, a senior researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Last year, however, all the cities except Taipei were edged out of the top 10, largely because of their slower economic growth, Ni said.

Another noteworthy change is Shenzhen, which shot up to the top place in overall competitiveness on the mainland, replacing the 2005 leader Shanghai and second-placed Beijing.

The southern powerhouse advanced most remarkably in the rating of resources consumed per unit GDP up from the 77th place in 2005 to 15th among 200 cities.

Like the previous editions, the 2006 report charted a clear geographical pattern to competitiveness, with cities on the eastern coast being the strongest, while those in the central areas and the western regions ranking low.

The report also finds the image and brand of a city is closely related to its competitiveness.

For example, surveys have found Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hangzhou are among the top cities on the mainland with the best urban branding, coinciding with their competitiveness ranking, according to Ni.