Qingyuan City lies in Mid-north of Guangdong, bordering on 4 cities, Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Shaoguan and 2 provinces, Huanan and Guangxi. In 1988, Qingyuan County was rescinded and in its stead was set up Qingyuan City at perfecture level, now with jurisdiction over Qingxin, Fogang, Yangshan, Lianshan and Liannan Counties and Qingcheng, Feilaixia Districts, and with mandate of 2 cities at county level, Yingde and Lianzhou. The Municipal seat is in Qingcheng District.

Huangteng Gorge

Qingyuan City is located in the juncture of the hilly areas of North Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta, with a topography of having plains, hilly land, mountainous areas and karst structures. There are cultivated areas of 2.683 million mu, forest areas of hectares, water areas of mu and unused areas of mu.  areas of 1.391 million hectares, water areas of 0.969 million mu.

Lianzhou and Yangshan areas belong to the mid subtropical monsoon zone, the rest areas are of south subtropical monsoon zone. The annual average temperature is 18.7-21.9 C°,the average rainfall is 1651~2179 mm , the total annual duration of sunshine is 1222~1796 hours.

Yao Ethnic minority in Qingyuan

In Qingyuan, where minorities inhabit as a ethnic group, with a population of minorities of0.101 million, the Yaos and the Zhuangs are the majority there.

Qingyuan is rich in mineral and forest resources. Among the 116 kinds of minerals found in Guangdong, those in Qingyuan are of 62 kinds, of which the reserves of 44 kinds have been proved; minerals that rank the third in Guangdong are of 15 kinds. By the end of 2000, forest area had reached 1.13 million hectares, live timber storage of48.01 million  cubic meters, the forest coverage rate being 66.2%.

Qingyuan offers convenient communications: Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, State Highways 106 and 107, and Beijiang (North River) run through the area. By the end of 2000, the highway traffic mileage was 9527.9 km, of which expressway Grade I highway ,87.1 km of Grade II highway , with a highway density of 50.1 km per hundred square km. The major ports are Qingyuan Port, Yingde Port, Lianzhou Port, andYangshan Port. Shipping from the urban district to Hong Kong and Macao has been put into operation.

Yao Ethnic minority in Qingyuan

The major spots are: Feixia Scenic Spots, Baojing Palace of Yingde, Taihe Ancient Cave of Qingxin, Sankeng Hot Spring, Huanghua Lake of Fogang, Little Biejiang of Lianyang, Underground River of Lianzhou, Three Gorges of Huangchuan, Yinzhan Hot Spring Holiday Area, Folk Customs of Minorities in Liannan and Lianshan. (Source: www.getgd.net)