Lhasa, Shanghai rated safest cities

Nearly 40 percent of more than 25,000 surveyed urban residents from 38 Chinese cities said they are afraid to go out at night, according to a blue book on public services in 2012 released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Thursday.

Almost 39 percent of those surveyed said they worry about the security of their home property when leaving home for long periods.

Residents of Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, rated their safety and public security the highest. Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province, got the lowest marks for safety from its residents.

Shanghai, Xiamen, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Changchun, Chongqing, Tianjin and Dalian along with Lhasa were the top 10 safest cities. Beijing was in 14th place.

The blue book said generally, residents in coastal cities in East China and municipalities feel much safer than those in other regions of the country.

It also suggests a dynamic monitoring and assessment system of security be established in cities, in combination with a large-scale survey of residents to better understand their concerns.

Meanwhile, new technology and facilities should also be used to better ensure public safety.

The involvement of local residents is also critical, as the blue book cites some 2 million volunteers who helped maintain security during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and the 1.4 million residents who were mobilized during the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party in November.

Of the nine public services surveyed respondents were asked to rate, public security ranked the lowest, while healthcare services got the highest rating, according to the blue book.

The public's concerns over food safety, which have been fueled by a series of scandals, dragged down the rating of public safety among all public services.

A high number of natural disasters and accidents that have caused many casualties and economic losses have unnerved the public.

Social security and employment were respondents' top two concerns, knocking housing from top position in last year's blue book.

Lhasa is also crowned the city with the highest satisfaction in terms of public service, topping all the others in indices including public security, public transportation, employment, social security, healthcare and the city's environment.

Xiamen and Shanghai follow Lhasa in the list of cities that offer the best overall public services.