In the Happy Cities Forum 2025 held in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province in China, on December 9, Fuzhou ranked among 11 most livable cities for 2025 in the provincial capital and separately listed city category. Wu Xiande, the mayor of Fuzhou, delivered a keynote speech in the forum and received the award on behalf of Fuzhou.

Sponsored by Oriental Outlook, a weekly magazine of Xinhua News Agency, the investigation and selection event on “the most livable cities” and the happy cities forum have been held for 19 consecutive times. Hailed as the most influential urban investigation and selection event, the event annually singles out around 10 provincial capitals and separately cities as well as other prefecture-level cities, urban districts and county-level cities. Under the theme “acting on the principle that a city should be built by the people and for the people and creating a better life”, this year’s event kicked off in August and had 220 cities and urban districts shortlisted. Strict selection was made before the most livable cities for 2025 were finally unveiled.

Fuzhou is a blessed city filled up with human touch. Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, used to work and live in Fuzhou for 13 years. He spearheaded Fuzhou’s modernization drive for six years, leaving behind a lot of spiritual and ideological wealth and scoring many tangible results. These have fostered the city’s biggest strength and fortune. In recent years, Fuzhou has upheld the essence of the “3820” Strategic Project and moved faster to grow itself into a modern international city. In regard to economic aggregate, Fuzhou in 2024 ranked eighth among Chinese provincial capitals.

What’s the key to living a happy life in Fuzhou? The sense of happiness stems from a colorful cultural life as a result of the city’s profound heritage, a beautiful coastal environment with comforting waters and mountains, an industrial base nurtured by dynamic entrepreneurship, improving people’s livelihoods catalyzed by the all-ages friendly urban environment, and a cheerful and worry-free life embodied by enjoyment and recreations. These explains why happiness can be easily felt in Fuzhou. The sense of happiness originates from nature, improves amid the hustle and bustle, and persists because of vigor and vitality. As a result, visitors are reluctant to leave and want to come back. (Pan Qian)