Fuzhou

Fuzhou[a] is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Fuzhou lies between the Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Mindong linguistic and cultural region. Fuzhou's population was 7,115,370 as of the 2010 Census. Like other prefecture-level cities in China, its administrative area contains both urban and rural areas: in 2010, 61.95% of inhabitants (4,408,076) were urban, while 38.05% (2,707,294) were rural.[6] As of 31 December 2018, the total population was estimated at 7,740,000 whom 4,665,000 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of five urban districts plus Minhou County.[3] In 2015, Fuzhou was ranked as the 10th fastest growing metropolitan area in the world by Brookings Institution.[7] Fuzhou is listed as No. 20 in the China Integrated City Index 2016's total ranking, a study conducted by the National Development and Reform Commission.[8] Fuzhou is also a major city for scientific research, appearing in the global top 50 cities as tracked by the Nature Index.[9] The city is home to several major universities, notably Fuzhou University, one of China's key universities and other public universities, including Fujian Normal University and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University.