Shaoguan is situated in the north of Guangdong, bordering Hunan to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Heyuan to the southeast, Huizhou to the south, Guangzhou to the south and Qingyuan to the west. It spans latitude 23°53′~25°31′N and longitude 112°53′~114°45′E. From the easternmost, Jiezhi village, Jiezhi county, Nanxiong city, to the westernmost, Gaoling village, Sanxi county, Lechang city, it spans 1,863 km. From the northmost, Sanjiewei village, Baishi county, Lechang city, to the southmost, Luxia village, Matou county, Xinfeng city, it spans 1,734km. Its jurisdiction currently covers three districts, Zhenjiang District, Wujiang District, Qujiang District, five counties, Renhua County, Shixin County, Wongyuan County, Xinfeng County and Ruyuan Yao Autonomy County, and two county-level cities, Lechang City and Nanxiong City. In total, there are 10 subdistrict offices, 4 offices and 93 counties and 1 ethnic township. It covers a space of 1,840,000 square kilometers and 3,468 square kilometers of the area of the urban district. As regards the feature of terrain, Shaoguan is dominated by mountains and hills as well as rivers and valleys, in which the plain and platform areas account for 20%. It is higher in the north part, lower in the south region, with the highest mountain Shikengkong, 1902 meters above sea level in Guangdong. Its river belongs to Beijiang River, the northern tributary of the Pearl River System in southern China, with Zhenjiang River as its main stream and Wujiang River, Mojiang River, Jinjiang River, Wengjiang River, Nanshui River as its main tributaries. Shaoguan has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate with an average annual temperature of 21℃and average annual rainfall of 1700 mm. The frost-free period in Shaoguan is about 310 days. It snows in the north of Shaoguan in winter. And as an important forestry area in China, the source of timber forest in Guangdong and the key research base of bamboo, Shaoguan’ s forest coverage rate accounted for 75.05%, with 19.11 million square meters of forest land, and 90.54 million cubic meters of living food growing stock, hence the name “South China Biological Gene Bank”, “Ecological Barrier of Pearl River Delta”. Shaoguan has gained the fame of “Home to Nonferrous Metals of China” and “City of Zinc”. There are 55 type of mineral deposits, among which there are 12 types of dominant mineral: uranium, lead, zinc, copper, tungsten, molybdenum, sulfur, cement limestone, rare earth, Xinfeng ceramic soil, fluorite and geothermal water.
