The survey asks practical questions such as how long it takes to get goods through customs or how much time firm management spends dealing with government bureaucracy.

Many manufacturing firms both import some parts or materials and export some of their products. Combined import plus export customs clearance is a very low three days in cities such as Jiangmen or Dongguan.

On average the time is seven-eight days in the southeast, compared to twice as long (15 days) in the northeast. On time spent dealing with government bureaucracy, Hangzhou scores best - firms report spending only eight days per year dealing with government bureaucracy.

Other cities that are relatively unbureaucratic are Qingdao, Huizhou and Shantou. At the other end of the spectrum, firms report spending 60 days per year dealing with bureaucracy in northeastern cities and nearly 80 days per year in the northwest.

There is a clear regional pattern on investment climate, with the southeast best, followed by the Bohai area, the centre, northeast, southwest, and northwest. Within each region, however, there is also a lot of variation among cities. The Bohai cities of Qingdao, Weihai and Linyi are among the best in the country in terms of investment climate. Dalian in the northeast is also one of the best.

Good investment climate attracts foreign investment and domestic private investment, leading to faster growth and a higher standard of living.

This is the third major conclusion from the analysis.

In the best one-fifth of cities in terms of investment climate, foreign investment accounts for about one-third of manufacturing. In the worst one-fifth of cities, it is about 5 per cent.

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