Located in the eastern part of Shanxi province, Yangquan is a new industrial city and the political, economic and cultural center of eastern Shanxi. It now has jurisdiction over Pingding county, Yuxian county, and Yangquan Economic and Technological Development Zone. With an area of 4,559 square kilometers, it has a population of 1.41 million. It was the first city built by the Chinese Communist Party.

Yangquan is a gateway of Shanxi province to Hebei province. Located between Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang, two provincial capitals highly complementary to Yangquan's economy, it also connects the developed eastern region with the underdeveloped western region, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu Region and coastal developed areas. 

As Yangquan is an important coal energy and heavy chemical industry base of Shanxi, it has been a key area for national investment for many years. The reform and opening-up policy has injected vitality into its economy. After 70 years of construction, Yangquan has gradually formed an economic system with coal and electric power industries as its pillars and electrolytic aluminum, refractory materials, magnetic materials, ceramics, cement, valves, powder metallurgy, polyvinyl chloride and other leading industries as additional components. With more than 2400 kinds of products, it has formed a strong industrial foundation and relatively strong technical strength.