Capital is '30 years behind New York'

Beijing is in the second stage of becoming a global city - yet it is still about 30 years behind the likes of New York, London and Tokyo, say experts at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

In its new blue book on urban and rural development, the institution makes this conclusion based on four factors: economy, culture, society and city development, with each having 24 indicators.

The Chinese capital scored an average of 34.9 in the assessment, based on data from the Beijing Bureau of Statistics. However, cities like those in the United States, Britain and Japan averaged 66.