Chengdu has been applauded as the Chinese city with the most "soft power" after beating a number of mainland cities - including Hangzhou, Dalian and Kunming - to secure the title.

In recent years "soft power" has become an increasingly important factor in the success or failure of a city or region, in terms of both satisfying the needs of its residents and in attracting external support from the commercial sector.

"Soft power" is now annually evaluated in China across 10 different criteria, including cultural appeal, innovative capacity, ability to support science and education, effectiveness of government administration, city cohesion, attractiveness to the business sector, social harmony, capability of image communication, level of coordination, and the effectiveness of information transmission.

The 2009 evaluation, conducted by Oriental Outlook Weekly magazine, Fudan University's International Relations Research Center and the Chinese Mayors' Association, saw Chengdu ranked as the number one city for soft power among all the municipalities not directly under central government authority.

In addition, the local people's positive attitude, sense of humor and innovative spirit were singled out for particular commendation. The findings came following the panel spending a full 12 months sifting 1.3 million items of data concerning 50 of China's leading cities.

Over the past two years, Chengdu's "soft power" has been frequently cited as a factor by the increasing numbers of multinational companies that have opted to invest in the city. These include 134 Fortune 500 companies, such as Accenture, DHL, J.P.Morgan and Volkswagen.

In March 2008, Huawei Symantec commenced full operations in the area. It was followed in February 2009 by Intel investing $525 million in its Chengdu factory. In June of the same year, the world's leading business-to-business website, Alibaba, chose Chengdu as its base in west China.

Alibaba, one of China's true e-commerce giants, made a record IT investment of $100 million in Sichuan in order to build its west China base in Chengdu.

Commending on the decision to choose the city, Ma Yun, CEO of Alibaba, said: "Many cities have invited us to invest in them, but we found that Chengdu was the best fit for us."

In addition to its vast local market, abundant human resources and efficient government, Ma confessed he was also impressed by the city's passion, devotion and determination to support its IT industry and outsourcing business in the digital age.

Tencent is another IT company to succumb to the temptations of Chengdu's business environment. The company is not only one of China's largest Internet service providers, but it also boasts the largest number of users in the world. On May 22, 2008, it became the first company to invest in Chengdu after the devastating May 12 Sichuan earthquake, signing a 550 million yuan ($80 million) deal with the high-tech zone.

The quality of life and cost of living in the city has also attracted more and more senior IT staff to relocate from Beijing to Chengdu. Xiao Chen is a typical case. Two months ago he bid adieu to Beijing and settled in Chengdu, largely to escape the financial burdens of living in the capital

In Beijing, Chen's 12,000 yuan salary could hardly support his family of three after paying all his bills and loans. Now he has sold his flat in Beijing and bought a larger apartment and a car in Chengdu. Even though his salary is now lower, his family still enjoys a more comfortable life and a higher standard of living in their new southern home.

Now Chen lists the pleasant weather, lower prices, great food, excellent entertainment facilities and the easy-going local people as just a few of the attractions of Chengdu.

Chen and his family, though, are not the only people to benefit from the move, as he says: "When you feel happy, you can focus on your work better."

Chen's southern migration is not a solitary one. Only recently his friend, Xiao He followed suit and took up a position with the Sichuan Jiuzhou Electronic Group Co Ltd in the Tianfu Software Park.

Last month, a survey by the world leading employment service company, Manpower, showed that Chengdu had become one of the top 10 destinations for career-minded individuals in China. These migrating talents typically pay more attention to long-term career development than immediate rises in salary. In line with the survey's findings, over 60 percent of the employees at the Tianfu Software Park are now from other cities.

Feng Jianguo, deputy general manager of Shanghai-based Alcatel-Lucent, said: "Chengdu is a city that can retain talent. Since we settled down in the zone in 1993, most of our employees have stayed with us and many employees in other company locations have actually asked to move to Chengdu."

Feng's enthusiasm for the city is echoed by Deng Yanqi, CFO of DHL. Speaking after the company announced it was to build a service center in the city, he said: "Chengdu is the best place for us and it has the people we need. The quality and quantity of its local universities can provide us with a continuous stream of skilled staff."

In just two months, the company has now hired over 150 employees. Other companies, such as IBM, NOKIA, Huawei, Tencent and Ubisoft, have also testified to the ease of recruitment in Chengdu.

Source: China Daily