Shaanxi is located in the middle part of China. It is an inland province, with a width of 500 kilometers from east to west at its widest point and around 870 kilometers from south to north. Shaanxi province neighbors Shanxi province to the east, and is separated from Shanxi by the Yellow River. It borders Gansu to the west, and Henan, Hubei and Sichuan to the south-east and the south; to the north and north-west respectively. It is adjacent to Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Ningxai Hui autonomous region. Shaanxi is an important transport hub as it connects the south, the west-north, and the south-west via its highway system. The total population is 35,701 million people of which Han people make up 99.4%. Minorities groups including Hui, Man, Mongolian make up the rest. The population density of the province is 174 people per square kilometer.

As an undeveloped inland province, Shaanxi also has huge development potential. It is located in the hinterland of China, thus has the convenience of connecting the east and the west, the south and the north. It is an important environmental barrier between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, and also a main field of the environmental development in the west.

Xi'an, as the biggest city in the north-west, supplies many and varied services for the development of the west. Shaanxi

province has the ability to be the "bridgehead" and "No.1 ladder" in the development of the west.

Shaanxi is one of the birthplaces of Chinese national civilization and Huaxia culture. It has ever been a center of politics, economics and culture in China. It has a history of over 1100 years beginning with West Zhou and lasting to the Tang Dynasty, thus leaving a large number of cultural relics. It was the "cradle" of Chinese revolution and it was from Shaanxi that Chinese Communist Party and Chairman Mao Zedong led Chinese revolution for 13 years. Many revolutionary sites are preserved in Yan'an, a sacred revolutionary place.

Long history and magnificent culture have given the area many tourism resources. Shaanxi is very rich in cultural relics having a high density, huge number and high standard of relics. It is ranked No. 1 in the world. Examples of this exceptional storehouse of history are :- The Terracotta Warriors of Qin Dynasty which is one of the Eight Wonders of the world and the Famen Temple which houses the Sakyamuni Budha's finger bone and Xi'an’s ancient city wall is renowned at home and abroad. Shaanxi loess plateau, and the natural scenery in the south of Shaanxi are all very charming; Hua Mountain (West High Mountain), waterfall in Hukou, and Qinling National Environmental Preserve all have very distinctive natural sceneries.