Danyang is located in southern Jiangsu Province. It has a total area of 1,059 km<sup>2</sup> and a population of roughly 890,000. Danyang locals speak a dialect of Wu Chinese, and the city is on the linguistic borderline between Wu Chinese and Jianghuai Mandarin.
As one of the key cities in the Yangtze River Delta open to foreign trade, Danyang has shown strong economic and standard-of-living growth since 2000. In 2007, the GDP and per capita GDP of Danyang reached 35.7 billion yuan (US$4.7 billion) and 44,242 yuan (US$6,061) respectively.
Businesses from 32 countries and regions have invested in Danyang with accumulated paid-up capital of US$1 billion. As a developing city within the Shanghai economic sphere of influence, Danyang attracts domestic and foreign businesses.