Shantou is located in southeast of Guangdong, China, adjacent to the South China Sea. It is known as "the gateway of east Nanling Mountains and the communication hub of Southeast China" because of its advantageous geographical location. The city covers an area of 2,064 square kilometers and has a population of 4.795 million people. It has jurisdiction over six districts----Longhu, Jinping, Haojiang, Chenghai, Chaoyang, Chaonan and Nan'ao County. The SEZ itself takes up 234 square kilometers of the area.
It's well known that Shantou is the famous hometown of overseas Chinese and one of the largest emigration ports in modern China. At present, 3.35 million overseas Chinese, including Hong Kong and Macaonese are living in more than 40 countries and regions all around the world.