A recent report from the US's Milken Institute, an economic think tank, has the city of Changchun, in Jilin province ranking 8th on its list of "China's Best Economic Performance Cities", according to a local media report, on Sept 15.

The purpose of the study is to find the main factors behind a city's economic growth, based on nine standards over the short-term (1 year) and mid-term (5 years), with the focus on employment, income, gross regional production, foreign direct investment and added-value industries.

Data for the research are collected from 34 large cities and 232 small or medium-sized ones.