Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, ranks the fifth most attractive cities for talent in China.

Shanghai once again took the crown as the most attractive city for talent in China, followed by Shenzhen and Beijing, according to the report released by Evergrande Research Institute and Zhaopin.com, one of China's biggest job-hunting platforms.

Shanghai has ranked No 1 for three consecutive years, while Guangzhou has stood in the fourth spot since 2016, and Hangzhou, the business center of e-commerce in China, in fifth for four years in a row.

Among the top 50, cities located in eastern China accounted for 33 spots. Six cities are in the nation's center, eight from the west, and three in northeastern China.

According to the report, southeastern China has seen a rise in the inflow of talent, especially in cities in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta. However, northeastern areas have faced a brain drain, with the outflow of talent continuing to expand.

For fresh graduates and overseas students coming back to China, their preference is first- and second-tier cities, such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai.

The city's talent attraction index is based on different aspects, including the proportion of talent inflow, net talent inflow, fresh graduate inflow and overseas returnee inflow.