In China, the Yangtze River Delta is the region that has the best industrial agglomeration, and the economy in the region is comprehensive and balanced. The center of the Yangtze River Delta is Shanghai.
The Pearl River Delta is a region that is very active in high-tech industry worldwide. Shenzhen is an uprising city in the Pearl River Delta, the home of many world-famous Chinese high-tech companies, such as Tencent.
The Yangtze River Delta has the most cities in the top ten compensation ranking and top twenty talent attractiveness ranking, while the Pearl River Delta is the second. Beijing is special since it is the capital of China.
China has a big territory. Companies doing business in China usually divide the market into several regions, such as North China, East China, South China, West China, and sometimes Middle China.
When you start your business in China, you may first of all set up your first office based on the market landscape, available talent, cost, the nature of your business, and others. Talent attractiveness and compensation in different regions can provide information about good talent to support your business in China.
Compensation difference between regions
Here is the top ten cities with the highest compensation in China. The higher index has higher compensation. Usually, a city with a high quality talent pool has high compensation.

Shanghai is the highest. Within the top ten cities, there are six cities in the area around Shanghai, or say in the Yangtze River Delta. There are three cities in the Pearl River Delta. The rest one is the capital of China. So talents locate in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta in China.
The most attractive cities for talent
Here below is the top twenty most attractive cities for talent in China.

Shanghai in East China, Shenzhen in South China, and Beijing in North China, are the top three cities in China.
Comparing the top six attractive cities for talent and the top six compensation cities, those six cities are the same. The only difference is the second and the third exchange their places in two rankings.
The top three cities have reasons. Shanghai has been the industrial, commercial, financial, and logistics center. Shanghai has a mature business environment and a quality talent pool. Beijing is the capital, and has many advantages and resources attracting talents. Shenzhen is a young uprising city with innovation, where many world famous Chinese high-tech companies headquartered in Shenzhen.
Regions wide, Yangtze River Delta has six cities in top ten compensation cities and six cities in top twenty attractive cities for talent. Yangtze River Delta has the best industrial agglomeration in China. Yangtze River Delta economy is comprehensive and balanced. Pearl River Delta has three cities in top ten compensation cities and four cities in top twenty attractive cities for talent. Pearl River Delta is very active in high-tech industry. Different business has different requirements to talents. Not all talents gather in above mentioned regions. For any specific industry or sector, there are more specific and detail data available to support your decision. We will be happy to support you if you have any query.