Neuschwanstein Castle in Southwest Bavaria, Germany. [File photo]

"A beautiful country should be valued in terms of politics, economy, society, culture and ecology. We hope that this comprehensive index could be a reference for a country in designing a sound development path," Li said.

As the report shows, China's "beautiful index" has gone through a curve tendency in the past several decades – the index dropped a decade after the founding of the PRC, and rose after the country opened up in the late 1970s.

Despite ranking 10th in the list, China's ecology index was rated only 37.51, ranking 85 in the list, falling behind countries among the top 10.