Baidu Map recently released their China Urban Research Report for the second quarter of 2017 (hereafter "the report"). Among China's 60 major cities,Dongguan ranks fifth for attracting non-locals to work and settle in the city. The top four are Shenzhen, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

This "Population bonus", is a basic element of social economic operation, and has been increasingly reported in recent years. Population resources show more prominent importance in urban development, leading Dongguan to enhance talent policies and urban living so as to attract more high skilled workers to choose Dongguan as their "second hometown".

According to the report, these policies were exceptionally effective, accelerating Dongguan up to the top ten and then to fifth position. Dongguan's population attractiveness index now stands at 8.104.

The 60 major cities in the report have attracted 53% of the newly-added resident populations from across the nation and this quarter has seen a 9% growth over the first quarter of this year. The phenomenon of population concentration in major cities is increasingly remarkable, with the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, areas of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Chengdu, Xian, Zhengzhou and other provincial capitals most densely populated.

Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dongguan rank top three respectively for their population attractiveness within the Pearl River Delta. Population influx to these three alone accounted for more than 60% of all cities. Dongguan itself attracted 17.2% of population influx, slightly less than Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

(By Stefanie Tan,Grace Rong, Sammi Li and Sev Pischl)