Seventy-one of the top 100 cities are eastern cities, with Shanghai , Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and the southern Shenzhen and Gaungzhou ranking in the top ten.

China's central region has 16 cities in the top 100, while the western region has 13, the survey shows.

China is attaching more importance to the quality of foreign investment rather than shear quantity, said Zhang Weimin, Deputy Director of NBS. The country is also striving to create a better environment to attract more investors, he said.

China received a total of 622.4 billion U.S. dollars in foreign direct investment from 1979 to 2005. For 11th year running it has attracted more foreign investment than any other developing nation.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)