Shanxi province enjoys an ideal location for trade and investment. The province is next to Hebei province in the east, Shaanxi and Henan provinces in the west and south along the Yellow River as a natural border, and connects with Inner Mongolia autonomous region along the Great Wall in the north. 

Covering 156,700 square kilometers, the province has a population of 37.29 million (2019) with 11 cities and 119 counties under its administration. 

Mineral advantages 

Shanxi has mineral extensive reserves in great variety and abundant quantity. By the end of 2015, 120 types of minerals had been discovered, 63 with proven reserves and 32 types ranking in the top 10 for quantity in China. The reserves of coal, coal bed methane, bauxite, refractory clay, magnesium mine and dolomite for metallurgy rank ahead for quantity in China. The proved reserve of coal amounted to 270.9 billion metric tons, accounting for 17.3 percent of the whole country's reserves.

Water advantages

The province's gross annual water resources amount to about 9.83 billion cubic meters, including about 8.4 billion cu m of underground water and about 8.7 billion cu m of river water. 

Tourism advantages

A cradle of Chinese culture, Shanxi boasts a long history, abundant heritage and beautiful scenery. The long history has left the province numerous historical relics, and the unique geography has created beautiful and splendid natural scenery, such as the second-largest waterfall in the nation, the China-Hukou Waterfall in the Yellow River.

Shanxi is home to 452 sites containing cultural relics under State-level protection, and to more than 28,000 ancient architectural sites, the most of all provinces in China. There are three relics listed as UNESCO world heritage sites, namely Yungang Grottoes in Datong, the Ancient City of Pingyao in Jinzhong and Mount Wutai in Xinzhou.

Transport and logistics advantages

By the end of 2019, the length of road transport in Shanxi amounted to 144,000 kilometers, among which highways cover 5,711 km. There are 242 air routes in civil aviation.

By the end of 2018, there were cumulatively 50 cargo trains under regular operation from shanxi to Europe and central Asia. Taiyuan railway port operation area in Zhongding  Logistics Park and Taiyuan International Mail Exchange Bureau (Exchange Station) were officially put into operation. On the basis of the previous six customs agencies (Taiyuan airport customs, Datong customs, Linfen customs, Yuncheng customs, Jincheng customs and Changzhi customs), customs agencies were newly established in Jinyang (serving cities of Taiyuan, Jinzhong and Lyuliang), Wusu (serving comprehensive bonded zone), Xinzhou, Yangquan and Shuozhou. Taiyuan-Sydney intercontinental air route, Taiyuan-St.Petersburg intercontinental air route, Taiyuan-Kunming-Pattaya air route, Taiyuan-Kunming-Hat Yai air route and other international air routes were officially opened for traffic.

Scientific advantages

Shanxi applied for 20,697 patents, including 7,379 invention patents, in 2017, representing year-on-year growth of 3.3 percent. There have been 560 scientific achievements listed, with three winning national science and technology awards. By the end of 2017, Shanxi had 1,117 high-tech companies and 184 maker spaces at provincial-level and above.