Originally Posted by
chornedsnorkack
And apparently is not administrative regulation either.
Nanning certainly is the capital of an autonomous region, and not of a minor one either (like Lhasa, Xining, Yinchuan or Haikou). So is Nanning better regarded as third or second tier city?
-Of course it's not an administrative regulation! The tiered city concept is only of relevance to marketers/consultancies, real estate speculators, and --to a much lesser extent-- financial institutions
-Autonomous regions are all "minor" (suggesting that one is less minor than the rest doesn't matter in the grand scheme)
-Placing cities into tier groups in a meaningful manner requires a certain amount of common sense
*a lot of the small mining cities have per capita GDPs that blow Beijing out of the water, but nobody in their right mind would describe them as "tier 1"
*reported income and population figures are often WAY off base (e.g. it's pretty hard to buy a Bentley on a $6,000/year salary)
*if you think Nanning might be tier 2, visit it along with Nanjing, Qingdao, Dalian, Xiamen, Xi'an, Chengdu, etc.