It is the center of the Bohai Economic Rim, and its proximity to the Chinese capital of Beijing and the municipality of Tianjin makes it one of the busiest seaways in the world.

The romanization systems widely used in the West at the time rendered these names as variations of "Jili", "Chihli", "Pechihli", or "Pe-Chihli".

The ports of Dalian and Yantai are also traditionally considered part of the Bohai rim, even though strictly speaking they lie outside the limits of the sea.

[8] The Bohai Bay contains significant oil and gas reserves,[9] which provide much of China's offshore production.

The Gudao Field, located in the Zhanhua sedimentary basin, was discovered in 1968, based on gravity, magnetic and seismic surveys conducted between 1963 and 1964.

[16] In February 2011, China announced that it would build a road and rail tunnel across the Bohai Strait to connect the Liaodong and Shandong peninsulas.

[17] In July 2013, a modified plan was announced, involving a 123-kilometer (76 mi)-long tunnel between Dalian, Liaoning and Yantai, Shandong.