Liaoyuan city sits in the central and southern part of Jilin province, the transitional zone between Changbai Mountains and the Songliao Plain. It covers an area of 5,140 square kilometers, and has two counties, two districts and an economic development zone. It is home to 24 ethnic groups and a total population of 1.17 million.

Liaoyuan is famous for sika deer, Chinese lutes, local song-and-dance duets, farmers painting, paper cutting, high-precision aluminum processing, and cotton socks. It was named as an advanced city for culture reform and entrepreneurial development, a national model in economical and intensive use of land resources, and one of the first pilot sites for smart city building. It was named as an advanced city for heroic acts on three consecutive occasions.

Liaoyuan has a well-developed light industry, and the equipment manufacturing and agricultural products processing industries have taken up 45.2 percent of all its industries. The city has two provincial export facilities for aluminum and footwear.

The city abounds in corn, rice paddy fields and soybeans. Its two counties are both important national commodity grain facilities. Liaoyuan's grain production stands at 1.5 billion kilograms. Local tussah output accounts for 60 percent of all the output in Jilin province.

The city reported annual GDP of 76 billion yuan ($11.4 billion) in 2020.