Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen were tagged Wednesday as the mainland's three most expensive cities by the US Mercer Human Resource Consulting firm.

Beijing tops the chart with a cost of living index of 101.1, but ranks 132nd in quality of life.

The cost of living index in Shanghai was down, moving the city from last year's 11th position to 16th this year. Its quality of life is listed in 107th place. With an overall index of 95.3, it ranks 144th of cities surveyed.

The survey uses New York as the base city in the survey, scoring it an even 100.

The gap between the world's least and most expensive cities has narrowed only marginally this year, by less than 2 points compared to 4 points last year and 15 in 2002.

The survey covers 144 cities and measures the comparative costs of more than 200 items. These include housing, food, clothing and household goods as well as transportation and entertainment.

"The data are used to help multinational companies to determine compensation allowances for their expatriate workers," said Lu.

Tokyo remains the world's most expensive city by a significant margin, at 130.7. London moves up five places in the rankings to take second position at 119, followed by Moscow at 117.4.

"The quality of life in Beijing and Shanghai is quite unsatisfactory in view of their high living costs," said Lu.

Singapore is still a favored city for people to live and work in. On the cost of living index it ranks 46th and in quality of life it is in 33rd place.

Big-ticket expenses for expatriates in China are usually rent and education for children.

While a good 200-square-meter furnished apartment can be found in New York for about US$7,500, the best place in Shanghai for expatriates rents for US$9,400 a month. Rent in Beijing climbs all the way to US$14,000.

Expat kid costs also run high, with yearly tuition at kindergarten averaging US$17,000. Primary school costs about US$18,000 and middle school US$19,000, even higher than Tokyo's.

(China Daily July 22, 2004)