The eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province has been listed as one of the happiest cities in China for 2022, according to a forum held in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province on Dec 21.

The happiest cities also included Chengdu, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Xining, Guangzhou, Changsha, Shenyang, Hefei, and Nanjing.

Ten county-level cities and 10 urban districts were also selected as the happiest places.

The cities were selected by Oriental Outlook magazine and the think tank Liaowang Institute, both run by Xinhua News Agency, in a two-month-long process that included big data collection, questionnaires and panel discussions.

The cities were selected for their efforts to increase the well-being of the people and their pursuit of quality development, green development and good governance. Their residents' sense of happiness is also related to local education, employment, income, social welfare, healthcare and living conditions, according to the organizer.

The happiest cities in China have been named every year since 2007.

Basing its efforts on the goal of meeting people's aspirations for a better life, Qingdao has been unswervingly pursuing reform and opening-up, and promoting the building of an open global economy.

Qingdao has implemented a people-centered philosophy of development. The local government has worked continuously to ensure people's access to childcare, education, employment, medical services, elder care, housing, and social assistance, thus improving people's lives in an all-round way.

In the first three quarters of this year, the city welcomed 202,000 talents, bringing the total number to more than 2.57 million. Over this period, 31,700 new urban jobs were created.

In the first 10 months, the municipal expenditure on people's livelihoods was 112.6 billion yuan ($16.14 billion), up 18.4 percent and accounting for 72.8 percent of its total expenditures.

(chinadaily.com.cn)