The 2025 City Brand Innovation Forum, hosted by China City News (a People's Daily affiliate), recently unveiled the top 100 prefecture-level cities (excluding provincial capitals and above) in its annual brand index. Zhongshan secured the 12th spot with a score of 430.93.

Since the index's 2018 debut, Zhongshan has been listed for seven consecutive years. This year, Zhongshan climbed 8 positions from last year's 20th place.