All smiles in Xi'an

The ancient city of Xi'an defeated four other major Chinese cities in a recent survey of citizens' happiness levels.

During the two-week campaign in the Shaanxi provincial capital, as well as Beijing, Shenzhen in Guangdong province, Henan's provincial capital Zhengzhou and Kunming, capital of Yunnan's province, almost 4 million people cast their votes at polling stations next to Happy Bus Shelters set up by Carlsberg Chill, a Danish beer brand.

Around 55 percent of 772,021 residents in Xi'an said they are happy with their lives in the city, which is hosting this year's World Horticultural Expo. Shenzhen, host of the World University Games, came second, with 54.63 percent of 729,933 voters saying they are happy.

Beijing ranked third with 54.17 percent of 804,103 people, Kunming was fourth with 53.7 percent of 752,108, while Zhengzhou was last with 52.89 percent of 753,581.

In a separate online survey of 66,418 netizens, however, Kunming came out top, followed by Xi'an, Shenzhen, Beijing and Zhengzhou.