Liaoning is located in the south part of Northeastern China, bordering the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea to the south, adjacent to North Korea by the Yalu River, and facing Japan and South Korea across the sea. It is the only coastal province bordering other countries in Northeastern China, and it is also the base for opening up in Northeastern China and Eastern Inner Mongolia. Liaoning has a land area of 148 thousand km2, with a coastline of 2,292 km, and 68 thousand-km2 offshore waters. 110 kinds of minerals have been discovered in Liaoning Province, of which 24 have ranked top 10 in the amount of available reserve. The reserve of boron, iron ore and magnesite has ranked No. 1 in China. The general topographical situation in Liaoning can be described as “60% mountains, 10% rivers and lakes, and 30% plains”. The terrain in Liaoning is relatively high in the north and low in the south, with mountains in the east and hills in the west. Liaoning has a temperate continental monsoon climate, with four distinctive seasons. This climate is suitable for the growth of many crops, making Liaoning become one of the important areas for the production of good-quality grain and fruits, as well as husbandry and fishery, etc. Liaoning has 14 provincial-level municipalities, 100 county-level regions (including county-level cities and districts), with a population of 42.71 million.
Liaoning is one of the old significant industrial bases in China. As one of the provinces having the largest numbers of industries, Liaoning now has industries of 39 main classes, 197 categories and more than 500 kinds. The province has well-developed equipment manufacturing and raw material industries, with significant national-level role in equipment manufacturing industries such metallurgy, mining machinery, power transmission and distribution, and machine tools, as well as those of iron and steel and petrochemical, etc.
As one of the earliest opening-up coastal provinces in China, Liaoning now has approved the establishment of 35 thousand foreign-invested enterprises, with the investment amount of 43.7 billion USD. The trade partners of the province are in 217 countries and regions worldwide, and there have been over 110 top 500 enterprises investing in the province.
Liaoning has good geographical location and transportation conditions. It is the important hub connecting Northeastern China and the rest of the country, as well as countries in other parts of Eurasia, and it is also a well-developed region in China in the aspect of infrastructure, including transportation and power supply systems. It has 3,939 km railways in operation, with the highest density in China. It also has 54 thousand km highways, including 1,849 km expressways, connecting all 14 provincial-level municipalities. The port of Dalian is the best deepwater ice-free seaport in North China, and the province also has many other ports along the coastline of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea such as Yingkou, Dandong, Jinzhou and Huludao, with 124 deepwater berths, with a docking capacity of 10-thousand-ton ships, and 23 container berths. In 2006, all seaports in Liaoning had a throughput capacity of 357 million tons and a container throughput capacity of 4.68 million TEU. Liaoning also has four airports including Shenyang Taoxian and Dalian Zhoushuizi, with 206 domestic and international airways.
Liaoning has well-developed foundations in the aspects of science and technology, education, culture and sports. It has 53 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering and nearly 1.5 million technical professionals of various kinds, being one of the provinces with the largest numbers of professionals in China. Liaoning has taken an irreplaceable role in China and the world in the 25 research fields such as metallic material, aero-engines, industrial automation, permanent magnet motors, and rice breeding, etc. The average schooling years per capita in Liaoning Province are 9.75 years, with 77 universities and colleges and 1.092 million students on campus. It has a gross college enrollment rate of 35%, with 4.047 million students in total studying in the period of compulsory education. It has 407 senior high schools, with 769 thousand students; and 553 middle-level vocational schools with 531 thousand students. Liaoning has good reputation nationwide in the fields of opera, ballet, acrobatics, and fine arts, etc. Liaoning ranks among the top in China in many kinds of competitive sports such as soccer, track and field, judo, weight lifting, cycling and rowing, etc. with 19 Olympic gold medalists and 265 world-level champions.
