Zibo is based in central Shandong Province of China. It borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the west, Laiwu and Tai'an to the southwest, Linyi to the south,Weifang to the east, Dongying to the northeast, and Binzhou in the north.
Zibo is an important transportation hub for travel within China. Zibo is made up of 5 districts, Zhangdian, Zichuan, Boshan, Zhoucun and Linzi each of which has their own distinct style and downtown area. The total area is 5,965 square kilometers. The total population of the city is 4.65 million.
Zibo is famous for being a historical state of Qi, which was once the most popular city in the east, about 2000 years ago. Zibo is the birth place of ancient football Cuju, which according to FIFA, was the earliest form of the sport. Pu Songling, a world famous short story writer of Ching Dynasty, is one of the city's numerous celebrities born and bred here. As the birthplace of Qi Culture and because of the abundant nature resources, it is an excellent tourist city in China. The Manufacturing industry holds an important place of the city's economy and of course it has contributed a lot not only to the city itself but also to the whole country.
Zibo is also otherwise known as the Famous Industrial City, Capital of the Ceramics Production Base and City of Petrochemical Industry. After one hundred years of development, Zibo has a solid industrial foundation. The dominant industries are: petrochemical industry, pharmaceuticals, metallurgy, building materials, machinery and textile, etc. High and new-technology industries, such as new materials, fine chemicals, electronics and information, and biological medicines, are developing rapidly.
