It’s beautiful in the south of China, so much so that some residents may have chosen to stay here for the scenery alone. That’s good for them, but those coming here for work might be in for a hard time.

A study by the Financial Times has ranked the per capita pay of listed companies throughout China, and the results don’t look good for Guangdong Province.

Haikou, Hainan (a beautiful place, mind you) has been crowned as the city with the lowest average salary at RMB 53,000 a year. Here’s the entire list starting with the lowest (Guangdong cities in bold):

1. Haikou, Hainan
2. Lanzhou, Gansu
3. Shantou, Guangdong
4. Zhuji, Shaoxing, Zhejiang
5. Nanchang, Jiangxi
6. Huzhou, Zhejiang
7. Zhongshan, Guangdong
8. Zibo, Shandong
9. Harbin, Heilongjiang
10. Jiangyin, Wuxi, Jiangsu

RELATED: Guangdong Hukou Reform to Populate Rural Cities with Migrants

A pattern focusing on cities of the Yangtze and Pearl River Delta becomes more clear when the list is opened up to the top twenty ranked cities with the lowest average salary:

11. Wuhu, Anhui
12. Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu
13. Weifang, Shandong
14. Foshan, Guangdong
15. Nantong, Jiangsu
16. Dongguan, Guangdong
17. Changzhou, Jiangsu
18. Chengdu, Sichuan
19. Zhuhai, Guangdong
20. Guiyang, Guizhou

Pearl River Delta cities make an appearance on this list a total of four times: Zhongshan, Foshan, Dongguan, and Zhuhai. Together with Shatou, there are more cities from Guangdong on this list than from any other province in China.

To confirm the disparity of wealth in the PRD, another recent list ranks the cities in China in which people are most likely to spend money.

At the beginning of 2014, Ctrip compiled data from over 90 million registered users in order to find the most popular travel destinations during Spring Festival. The top two cities are (unsurprisingly) Beijing and Shanghai, but the Pearl River Delta is represented very well at positions three and four by Guangzhou and Shenzhen, respectively.

In related developments regarding second-tier cities with crappy salaries, hukou restrictions on migrant workers have been relaxed in Guangdong as a way to entice them to stay in the province.

Besides hukou reform, the beautiful sub-tropical climate and beautiful scenery will also continue to draw people.

***

Related:

• Thousands Strike at Nike, Adidas, Reebok Factory in Dongguan Over Invalid Contracts
• 30,000 Workers Strike in Dongguan, Robots Planned As Replacements
• Shenzhen Firm Continues Trend to Replace Workers with Robots 
• New Census Data: There Are 5 Million More Men Than Women in Guangdong
• Report: Guangzhou Has Reached Critical MAss, Can’t Take Any More People

Photo: China Review News