Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a renowned international real estate and investment management company, recently released its list of China's top 60 cities. Wuhan ranks as a tier-1.5 city, and Xiangyang has also entered the list.

JLL selected the top 60 of 287 cities in China according to GDP, population, affluence, investment, retail sales, household savings, education, infrastructure, transaction land, the number of retailers and other variables. But the 4 metropolis - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen - were excluded. In the system, Beijing and Shanghai are classed as super tier one cities, and Guangzhou and Shenzhen are termed tier one cites, which serve also as the standard for selection of the Top 60 cites . Wuhan in Hubei province is classed as a tier 1.5 city, while Xiangyang and Yichang are in the list of tier 3 'debutants'.,

9 cities - Tianjin, Chengdu, Suzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Shenyang, Nanjing and Xi'an - were clssified as tier 1.5 cities.