It is located in the southeastern part of the province (Minnan), on the right or south bank of the Jin River, across from Quanzhou's urban district of Fengze and Licheng.

Jinjiang is famous as home to many Chinese in diaspora, especially in Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Australia, etc.

Once poor and overpopulated in late 19th century, many locals moved to Southeast Asia for better lives in what they called "下南洋" (Xià Nányáng; 'to sail down to the south sea').

Passengers are able to travel to bullet train hubs like Shanghai or Shenzhen in 2 to 3 hours, and further transfer to other destinations national wide.

Thriving with economics in private sectors, Jinjiang has been ranked as No.1 county with the highest GDP in Fujian for over 15 consecutive years.

Also, it's been ranked as top 10 richest county-level city in the whole country, as published by the National Bureau of Census.

In 2013, the mayor of Jinjiang called for more focus on innovative design by shoe manufacturers plagued by surplus inventory.