Yantai located at the middle part of Shandong Peninsula , lying at 36o16'-38 o 23'N and 119 o 34'-121 o 67'E, overlooks Liaodong Peninsula across the Bohai Sea and Huanghai Sea to its north. The city has total area of 13,000 square km, and the cultivated land of 467,000 hectares in which there are 300,000 hectares for framing, and 500,000 hectares grain sown area annually. The city has 909 km coastal line, with 600,000 hectares zone possible for developing. The city has 4 districts, 7 county-level cities and 1 county with the total population of 6.43 million, in which 4.45 million are peasants.

Yantai located at the middle latitude, enjoys the seasonal continental temperate climate with annual average temperature of 11.8 o C, average rainfall about 700mm and more than 200 days frost-free days.

Four urban districts (Zhifu, Fushan, Laishan, Mouping), seven county-level cities (Longkou, Laiyang, laizhou, Penglai, Zhaoyuan, Qixia Haiyang) and one county (Changdao) are under the jurisdiction of Yantai. It has a total area of 137,460,000 square kilometers and a population of 6.45 million, of which the urban districts has an area of 2,644 square kilometers and a population of 1.568 respectively.

Comprehensive economic strength Yantai ranks at No. 33 among the "50 comprehensively powerful cities of China " issued by the State Bureau of Statistics. The GDP of Yantai is at the position of No. 18 among the large/medium cities in China . In 1999, the GDP reached 80.1 billion yuan and the GDP per capita was 11,200 yuan with 6,513 yuan of the utilizable income per capita for urban residents and 3,290 yuan per capita for rural residents. Therefore, Yantai has become one of the four leading developed regions in Shandong Province , where the living standards of the people have already reached well-off level.