It's hard to say which should come first for a city's economic development. But a city that fails to attract talent will not be as sustainable as expected because it is people - not anything else - who make a city vigorous and prosperous.

For talent and companies alike, traditional first-tier cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, seem to have started losing their luster amid surging living costs, deteriorating environment, decreasing market opportunities in recent decades.

Meanwhile, 15 cities, including Chengdu, Wuhan, Shenyang and Xiamen, are emerging as the new first-tier cities credited as most charming among the 400 cities in the world's second-largest economy.

Let's take a closer look at some of the cities that are attracting most talent from home and abroad, based on a survey published by the CBN Weekly magazine recently.

No 10 Shenyang

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