Guangzhou ranks third among the nation's 35 major cities in terms of the development capacity of the headquarters economy. The rankings were unveiled at the sixth China High-level Forum on the Headquarters Economy, which opened in Guangzhou on December 29. The top ten cities are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Qingdao.

Ranking the cities in terms of the development capacity of the headquarters economy will help the cities identify their strengths and weaknesses in developing their headquarters economy, classify the stage of their headquarters economy, and prioritize development tasks.

According to its chief editor Zhao Hong, the China Blue Paper on the Headquarters Economy sets forth an elaborate system for evaluating a city's capacity to develop its headquarters economy. The system comprises six first-level indicators, including infrastructure, business facilities, R&D capacity, professional services, government services and openness, in addition to 15 second-level indicators and 53 third-level ones. The ranking of the 35 major cities is based on information and data from official publications.

By the capacity to develop the headquarters economy in 2010, the 35 cities are classified into four tiers. Tier 1 cities include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen; Tier 2 cities include Hangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Wuhan, Qingdao, Ningbo, and Xiamen; Tier 3 cities include Chongqing, Dalian, Shenyang, Changsha, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, and Jinan; and Tier 4 cities include 16 other cities.