A report released on Tuesday shows Shanghai has overtaken Hong Kong and tops China for the first time in the ranking of cities by their comprehensive competitiveness.

Thanks to the establishment of Shanghai's FTZ (free trade zone), Shanghai has replaced Hong Kong as the most competitive city in China, said China Institute of City Competitiveness (CICC) in Hong Kong on Monday at a press conference for the 12th China city competitiveness ranking.

After retaining first place for 11 consecutive years, Hong Kong has been surpassed by Shanghai mainly due to Shanghai's faster economic and fiscal growth. In addition, Shanghai has stronger competitive advantages in technology, culture and education.

Gui Qiangfang, president of the CISS, said city size, economic power, international influence and the degree of opening are the evaluation indicators.

Shanghai scores only a little higher than Hong Kong, but HK's potential for long-term economic growth is limited by its location and size. So other Chinese cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing all have the possibility to overtake Hong Kong in the future, said Gui Qiangfang.

However, in some areas such as systems and human resources, Hong Kong has accumulated its advantages over a long period, particularly in the financial sector, and in these areas mainland cities cannot overtake Hong Kong in the short term.

As the Asia-Pacific region's international financial, trade, shipping, tourism and information center, Hong Kong was rated as the city with the highest level in quality and security of urban assets.

Edited and translated by Liang Jun