Hangzhou remained the top Chinese city in which to live in 2009.

The top 10 best cities to live in China was unveiled in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province Saturday.

Hangzhou, home of the famous West Lake, was ranked No. 1 now for six consecutive years.

The other top cities included Ningbo of Zhejiang Province, Xi'an, Kunming of Yunnan Province, Changsha of Hunan Province, and Nanjing of Jiangsu Province.

"I feel happy to live in this city with less pressure and more space to enjoy the life. Similar to Sydney, we live here with a relatively slow pace of life and work, but we also have good work opportunities," Yu Xin, a Ningbo resident who returned from Sydney last year, told the Global Times Sunday.

Oriental Outlook, a weekly hosted the Xinhua News Agency, developed the survey along with the China Association of Mayors. The list was released after a four-month survey, which covers 12 indexes including natural environment, business opportunities, medical services, housing prices, public security and employment.

Horizon Research Group entrusted by the organizer conducted household interviews of more than 600,000 people in 100 candidate cities. About 30 million people voted through newspapers, text messages and the Internet.

"Most cities made the list are second or third-tier cities, which suggest that we should attach more importance to establishing people-oriented cit-ies," Wang Xiaodong, a Beijing scholar, told the Global Times.

A survey by sina.com showed that 82 percent of over 4,000 respondents considered looking for a job in their hometown or second or third-tier cities due to high home prices, limited career development or loneliness in large cities.

Liu Fangming, graduated from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2005, returned to his hometown, a city in Hunan after working in Beijing for one year.

"Frankly, the house problem forced me to leave Beijing. I once had blind dates with some girls, but they refused to meet for a second time after knowing I didn't have an apartment," Liu told the Global Times.

However, big cities don't lose their appeal overnight. Metropolis like Beijing still see an influx of people, Wang said.

Editor: Xie Fang

Source: Global Times