The brand influence and cultural soft power of China s 288 cities have rebounded sharply

Mondo Culture Updated on 2024-01-31

Liu Yanping (photo provided by the organizer).

This newspaper (chinatimesnet.CN) reporter Liu Shimeng reported from Beijing.

In 2023, in the first year of the shift in epidemic prevention policies and economic recovery, Chinese cities will also reopen to welcome visitors from all over the world.

In this year, people remembered the "humble appearance of power" in Ziboli, a small city in Shandong that became popular because of barbecue, witnessed the efforts of Hangzhou to "run a good meeting and improve a city" in Hangzhou, where the fragrance of osmanthus was fragrant, and moved by the enthusiastic ...... of Tianjin's "diving uncle" and "Pantou aunt" in the scorching summerThe Internet celebrity city where you sang and I appeared on the stage is a microcosm of the cultural soft power that has re-emerged after the return of the city's "fireworks in the world".

On December 26, at the "Academic Seminar on Urban High-quality Development, High-quality Life and Efficient Governance and the 2023 China City Brand Influence Report Results Conference", Huang Zhengxue, a researcher at the National Institute of Land Development, told the China Times reporter that the most fundamental thing in a city is cultural soft power, and if you don't want to listen to the story you tell, it is difficult to say that your cultural soft power is very strong. Culture is not a virtual thing, it is a very real thing, and it can indeed bring people a lot of experiences and feelings.

The influence of cultural brands has rebounded significantly

At the meeting, the research group of the City Brand Influence Report of the Institute of Financial Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences released the "Report on the Influence of Chinese City Brands (2023)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). The report selects 286 cities above the prefecture level in the mainland, as well as Hong Kong and Macao, a total of 288 cities as samples, and constructs the City Brand Influence Index (CBII) from five dimensions: city cultural brand, city tourism brand, city investment brand, city livable brand and city brand communication.

Comparison with the average value of the city's brand influence index in 2023 (Source: Report).

The report points out that the CBII index of the 288 cities included in the assessment in 2023 has rebounded, and the average value of the city brand influence index is 0316, an increase of 5 from 202269%。After the end of the epidemic, China's urban brand development is still making new progress in helping the construction of new urbanization, which is mainly due to the rebound of the city's cultural brand influence, urban tourism brand influence, urban livable brand influence and urban communication brand influence index this year. Among them, the urban cultural brand has achieved 9A significant rebound of 6%.

This is the embodiment of cultural resilience, or urban resilience, because it can recover after it declines. Liu Yanping, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Financial Strategy and editor-in-chief of the report, told the China Times that culture is the foundation and soul of a city, and in recent years, cities have strengthened the construction of cultural systems, expanded the supply of cultural services, promoted the development of cultural industries, promoted heritage protection, and significantly improved cultural potential and cultural synergy, and also attached great importance to the resilience of culture.

He introduced that in the past ten years, in the "Report on the Brand Influence of Chinese Cities", investment brands, communication brands, and tourism brand influence are traditional strengths, while cultural brands and livable brands have always been shortcomings. This year, in addition to the obvious rebound of cultural brands, livable brands have also become one of the important supporting dimensions of urban brands for the first time. In 2023, the city's livable brand influence index will increase by 9% year-on-year79%。Among them, the quality index of people's livelihood increased by 94 year-on-year8%, and residents' subjective perception of the livability of the city has rebounded significantly.

Among the three dimensions of traditional advantages, in terms of investment brands, the overall urban investment brand influence index in 2023 decreased slightly, but the investment vitality index increased by 1 year-on-year89 times, the basic economic indicators increased by 1 year-on-year49 times, although it has been slightly lowered due to the impact of the epidemic and changes in the international political and economic environment, the trend of China's urban economic recovery and long-term improvement has not changedIn terms of communication brands, the 2023 city brand communication index increased by 453%, continuing to occupy the leading position in the city brand index. This year, international and domestic exchanges around the country have resumed rapidly, and international events such as the "World Universiade" in Chengdu and the "Asian Games" in Hangzhou have been held one after anotherThe tourism brand influence index will also show a recovery trend in 2023, with a year-on-year increase of 1156%。With the relaxation of domestic travel restrictions, residents' travel demand has been released in a concentrated manner, new formats, new models and new supplies of the cultural tourism industry have been emerging, the consumption of major tourist destinations and popular scenic spots in various cities has continued to grow, and tourist hotspots such as Zibo barbecue and special military travel have occurred frequently.

There are still more than half of the urban agglomerations that have not formed a brand effect

From the perspective of regional coordination, in 2023, the regional distribution pattern of China's urban brand influence will show a balanced trend, but the growth of brand influence in some regions is still relatively weak. East China and South China are still leading the way under the superposition of location advantages, talent and industrial gathering advantages. The growth of urban brand influence in Northeast China and Northwest China is still relatively weak, and most of the cities in the region are at the middle and lower levels.

The score of the brand influence index of urban agglomerations shows that the brand influence index of urban agglomerations in 2023 shows a reverse differentiation trend compared with that in 2022, with the brand influence of the top urban agglomerations declining and the brand influence of the tail urban agglomerations increasing to a certain extent. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is far ahead in terms of brand effect, followed by the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration.

Among the 20 urban agglomeration samples, the number of urban agglomerations with a score of brand influence index (ABII) index significantly higher than the average CBII of the cities in the group is 9, and the "golden signboard" effect of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is far ahead of the average urban brand index in the urban agglomeration, followed by the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, reflecting the close relationship between regional brand development and urban agglomeration coordination and co-operation. It is estimated that among the 20 urban agglomerations, only 9 urban agglomerations have now exerted the brand effect of urban agglomerations, which has also become a positive reason for driving regional development, while the remaining 11 urban agglomerations have not yet formed brand endorsement, support and driving effect.

Comparison of the 2023 urban agglomeration brand influence index (ABII) with the average value of the city brand influence index (source: "Report").

In terms of brand synergy in metropolitan areas, the report selects 30 samples of metropolitan areas for comparative observation, and finds that the level of brand synergy in China's metropolitan areas is still not high overall, but compared with 2021 and 2022, the brand synergy level of most metropolitan areas has maintained a continuous and steady improvement trend. Among them, the Shanghai metropolitan area and the Shenzhen metropolitan area have the best performance in brand synergy, with the average value of the city brand influence index of 0502 and 0501 is a demonstration area for the coordinated development of brands in China's metropolitan area.

In addition, the report also examines the brand influence of national central cities. As of 2023, China has designated a total of 9 national central cities, namely Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Xi'an, as well as Qingdao, Xiamen, Changsha, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jinan, Shenyang, Hefei and Fuzhou, which clearly put forward the plan of "building a national central city". The results show that the average index of national central cities in 2023 is 0692, 0. higher than the average index of 288 cities in the country376 points, while the average CBII of the 9 planned declaration cities is 0614, which is significantly lower than the average of national central cities. Therefore, it can be said that the brand influence of the national central city has been further expanded, and it is at the absolute leading level of urban brand development, and the city that plans to declare also has good development potential, among which the brand performance of Hangzhou and Nanjing is remarkable, Hangzhou is second only to Beijing and Shanghai, and Nanjing has also entered the top 9 among the 18 cities.

2023 City Brand Influence Index Scores of National Central Cities and Cities Planned to Apply (Source: Report).

Editor-in-charge: Xu Yunqian Editor-in-chief: Gong Peijia.

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