Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai have been included in the so-called Alpha+ category of international cities based on analysis by a think tank called Globalization and World Cities (GaWC), reports qianzhan.com.

前瞻网报道，全球化与世界级城市研究小组的分析显示，香港、北京和上海成为所谓的A+国际城市。

London and New York top the list as Alpha++.

Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai are in the Alpha+ category.

Taipei and Guangzhou are on the Alpha- list, while Shenzhen is listed as a Beta city.

Basically speaking, ranking of top four Chinese mainland cities by GaWC was in line with traditionally-acknowledged ranking.

GaWC, based out of Loughborough University in the UK, has ranked 361 major cities worldwide into four categories: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Sufficiency.

The cities are rated in terms of international influence, population, international airports, transportation systems, foreign investment, the number of expats, large companies or headquarters of institutions, globally-influential media and large ports.

The GaWC gives a "+" or "-" to characterize the strength of each city in its category.