Dongguan lies in the northeastern part of Pearl River Delta, mid-south Guangdong Province of the People’s Republic of China. Guangzhou is 50 kilometers to its north, and Shenzhen 90 kilometers to its southeast, while Hong Kong is 100 kilometers away. Dongguan is ideally positioned at the center of the Guangzhou-Hong Kong economic corridor, making it an important land and water transportation hub. Dongguan was named for the Cyperaceous grass (Guan grass) which flourished in the area in ancient times.

As one of the twenty-one prefectural cities in Guangdong Province, Dongguan covers a land area of 2,465 square kilometers. Apart from its permanent population of 1.87 million and over 8 million temporary residents, Dongguan is home to over 700 thousand Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan compatriots and over 200 thousand overseas Chinese, making Dongguan a well-known hometown for overseas Chinese. Dongguan, with a modest subtropical monsoonal climate, enjoys abundant sunshine and plentiful rainfall. The annual average temperature is 22.3 ℃. The City is a traditional high-yield agricultural area of China and therefore rich in rice and Lingnan fruits such as bananas, litchis, longan, pineapple, and oranges. It also features abundant aquatic resources.