Beijing’s mayor just said it’s ‘not a liveable city.’ Here are 5 startup hubs in China that are much nicer

Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun just admitted that "Beijing is not a livable city." While Beijing is taking steps to improve conditions, pollution remains a huge deterrent for visitors and residents alike. According to Greenpeace, Beijing is China’s 13th most-polluted city out of the ranked 74.

But Beijing is China’s tech hub. Nearly half of the startups in all of China are in Beijing, as are their investors. Startups in the capital received over twice as much investment as the second-biggest startup hub Shanghai in 2012. Rui Ma, 500 Startups’ venture partner for greater China, advised, "If you are new to China, be in Beijing."

So yes, for entrepreneurs, Beijing has no equal in China. But it’s far from the only option. I myself was faced with the choice of remaining in one of the most happening cities on Earth or relocating to a place where I didn’t feel my health was at risk. While pollution wasn’t the only factor in my decision, it was a big one, and I left Beijing last August.

Every major city in China succumbs to pollution on some level – that’s the reality of living in a fast-developing country – but there are other startup hubs in China to consider. Below we’ve laid out the top alternative startup hubs in China worth looking into. We’ve also included their ranking out of 74 on the Greenpeace list (the higher the better).

Shenzhen

Admittedly, Huaqiangbei isn’t much to look at from the outside.

Greenpeace ranking: 66

I’ll start with Shenzhen, a city that grew from almost nothing to China’s largest city by some measurements in the space of about 30 years. It’s also where I’m located now.

Shenzhen is the hardware capital of China, home to companies like Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Oppo, TCL, and many more. The proximity to the largest concentration of China’s factories make it an ideal place to build a hardware startup. The country’s top hardware accelerator, Haxlr8r, takes up residence here, just down the street from what’s probably the world’s biggest electronics market.

Shenzhen is also just a stone’s throw away from Hong Kong, a bustling metropolis that combines the best of east and west and has a startup ecosystem all its own, not to mention cheap flights to the rest of the world. There’s also a handful of ecommerce and gaming companies in Shenzhen, too.

Startups here don’t seem to be clustered together like they are in other cities, however. Instead they tend to be scattered around wherever they can find cheap offices. Because Shenzhen has very little history to speak of, it also suffers from a lack of distinct culture.

Shanghai