Located in the middle reaches of the Huai River, Bengbu was historically a center for pearl harvesting and is known as the “City of Pearls.”It currently administers three counties—Huaiyuan, Wuhe, and Guzhen—four administrative districts—Longzi Lake, Bangshan, Yuhui, and Huai Shang—as well as two functional zones: the National-level Bengbu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone and the Bengbu Economic Development Zone. As of the end of 2023, the total area of the jurisdiction was 5,951 square kilometers, with an urban area of approximately 969 square kilometers and a total permanent resident population of 3.262 million.

Bengbu is a central city in the Huai River Basin and Northern Anhui region explicitly supported by the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government. It is a key central city in the Huai River Ecological Economic Belt and Northern Anhui region, a National Civilized City, a National Model City for Rule of Law Government Construction, a National Model City for Military-Civilian Unity, a National Garden City, a National Pilot Demonstration Zone for Ecological Civilization, one of China’s Top 100 Livable Cities, an old industrial base city in Central China,an important base for processing and manufacturing in Anhui Province, and the core city of the Hefei-Wuhu-Bengbu Comprehensive Pilot Zone for Independent Innovation.
Bengbu is a national comprehensive transportation hub, a national backbone cold-chain logistics base, and a national logistics hub for production services. With the opening of the Jinpu Railway in 1911, Bengbu rapidly emerged as a major thoroughfare connecting north and south, a hub for water and land transportation, and a key logistics center.Bengbu Station is a first-class passenger station on the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, while Bengbu South Station on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway is one of the seven major central hub stations along the Beijing-Shanghai line. The Beijing-Taiwan and Nanjing-Luoyang expressways intersect here, and Bengbu Port is the largest port on the thousand-mile Huai River.The Bengbu (Northern Anhui) Railway Dry Port and the Bengbu (Northern Anhui) Type B Bonded Logistics Center have been successively completed and put into operation. The civil airport is scheduled to open in 2025.

Bengbu ranks second in Anhui Province in terms of science and education resources. It is home to seven national-level research institutes, including the China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO) 214th Research Institute, the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) 40th and 41st Research Institutes, and the China Glass Industry Design and Research Institute; six universities based in Bengbu, such as Anhui University of Finance and Economics; the province’s largest modern vocational education park; 17 secondary vocational schools; and a number of local research institutions. It serves as a key pillar of the Hefei-Wuhu-Bengbu Comprehensive Pilot Zone for Independent Innovation.

Bengbu possesses a robust industrial foundation. As one of China’s 26 old industrial base cities, it maintains an industrial system spanning 34 major sectors and over 400 sub-categories. The city is currently prioritizing the development of five major industrial clusters—new energy, next-generation displays, smart sensing, bio-chemicals, and automotive components—and is dedicated to building the “Two Valleys and Two Parks”: China Sensing Valley, China Glass Valley, the Aerospace Industrial Park, and the Zero-Carbon Industrial Park."China Sensing Valley" is one of the three major industrial development platforms in the province that are receiving key support from the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government.