This paper aims at expanding the analysis on low carbon development of selected European cities as carried out in the POCACITO project to the Chinese City of Xiamen and compare it with the results for EU cities. On this basis, similarities, differences and potential starting points for cooperation and transfer of know-how or technologies are discussed. Based on generic quantitative city data as well as “key performance indicators” for low carbon development a quantitative comparison between Xiamen and EU case study cities is undertaken. The results show that Xiamen catches up quickly in terms of economic development and currently may be situated already at the lower end of EU cities.