Ten provincial capitals and major cities, and another 10 cities at the prefectural level have been listed as the happiest cities in China for 2020, according to a forum held in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou on Wednesday.

 

The happiest cities include Chengdu, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Changsha, Zhengzhou, Xining, Qingdao, and Nanjing.

 

Ten county-level cities and another 10 urban districts were also selected as the happiest places.

 

The cities were selected by Oriental Outlook magazine and think tank Liaowang Institute, both run by Xinhua News Agency, in a three-month-long process that included big data collection, questionnaires and panel discussions.

 

Education, employment, income, social welfare, healthcare, living conditions and the local environment are all related to people's sense of happiness, and they represent the key criteria in selecting winners, according to the organizer.

 

The happiest cities in China have been named every year since 2007.