Xiamen, in Fujian province, ranks seventh, with an average year-end bonus of 5,884 yuan ($950) per person in China’s city year-end bonus list, released by Beijing PXC Management Consulting Co, a Chinese data survey organization, on Jan 12.

As the Chinese Spring Festival approaches, enterprises successively release their year-end bonuses for staff. The list was compiled from research in 30 large Chinese cities.

Shanghai enterprises take the the first place with an average year-end bonus of 8,523 yuan. The number in five other cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province and Suzhou in Jiangsu province, all exceeded 6,000 yuan. Fourteen cities have an average number between 4,000 and 5,000 yuan. Numbers in only three cities – Changchun in Jilin province with 3,998, Lanzhou in Gansu province with 3,890, and Harbin in Heilongjiang province with 3,640 – are below 4,000.

The research says that more than 80 percent of Chinese enterprises give year-end bonuses to staff, and 3 percent of the enterprises give more than 30,000 yuan.

Most enterprises’ bonuses are in cash, while 8.6 percent give shopping cards and some state-owned enterprises give away material awards.

IT and financial enterprises were the bonus giants in 2014, with an average year-end bonus of 39,873 yuan, followed by the trusts, funds and security industry and mobile phone games industry ranking third. The old winning real estate industry now ranks sixth with 25,062 yuan.

Nearly 30 percent of people say they are unsatisfied with their 2014 year-end bonus, 41.6 percent think it is just so-so, and only 14.9 percent enterprises get good remarks from their staff.

By Zhai Song and edited by Brian Salter