Foshan, located in the central area of the Pearl River Delta, is part of the Guangzhou-Foshan Metropolitan Area and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (one hour's drive from Hong Kong, Macao, and Shenzhen). It is an important manufacturing base, a national historical and cultural city, an economic and trade center, and a transportation hub. 

As a prefecture-level city in South China’s Guangdong province, Foshan has jurisdiction over five districts: Chancheng, Nanhai, Shunde, Gaoming and Sansui. With an area of 3,797.72 square kilometers, it had a permanent population of 8.16 million in 2019, including a registered population of 4.66 million. In addition, around 800,000 overseas Chinese were born in Foshan.

In 2019, Foshan's GDP reached 1.08 trillion yuan($167 billion), and the total output value of its above-scale industries reached 2.32 trillion yuan.  

Historically, Foshan was one of China’s earliest commercial ports to open up to the outside, and one of the earliest export-oriented commodity bases in thecountry’s reform and opening up process. 

These days, more than 10,000 foreign-invested enterprises have settled in Foshan, including 65 of the world's top 500 enterprises, such as FAW-Volkswagen, Toyota, and Anheuser-Busch InBev. 

The city has actively participated in the Belt and Road Initiative in recent years. For example, it has built friendly relationships with 16 cities, and has created the Sino-German Industrial City Alliance with 42 domestic and foreign cities such as Bremen and Hannover. Currently, five national foreign trade transformation and upgrade demonstration bases in the fields of architectural ceramics, metal profiles, household appliances, furniture, and hardware products are located in the city, and a comprehensive pilot area for cross-border e-commerce is being established. 

In addition, Foshan has established household exhibition centers in 10 countries, including the United States, Australia, South Africa, Russia, and India. Of these, the South Africa exhibition center is rated as a national public platform for international marketing services. Foshan organizations have invested in 324 enterprises (including institutions) from 45 countries and regions, and key enterprises such as Midea, Country Garden, Lesso, Nationstar and Vmt.Df have accelerated diversified investment and mergers abroad. 

As the national intellectual property demonstration city and the only intellectual property protection center in Guangdong, Foshan has 58,700 licensed patents and 23,000 valid patents for invention, and has won 52 Chinese Patent Awards.