It is located on the north side of the Yangtze River opposite Shanghai and forms a peninsula jutting out into the East China Sea.

It also has a well-known fishing port called Lüsi town, named after Lü Dongbin, one of the eight immortals, who is said to have visited the place four times.

The area of present-day Qidong was part of the East China Sea until the Han dynasty, when deposition from the Yangtze River began to form islands, notably including Dongbuzhou (t 東布洲, s 东布洲, p Dōngbùzhōu) at the site of present-day Lüsi.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, the first official government, called Lüsi chang, was established.

By November 1989, significant progress was made in urbanization and the Chinese State Council permitted the promotion of Qidong from a county to a county-level city.

At November 16, 2021, there female secondary students committed suicide, the current circumstances of three girls are not certain.

Students from middle schools in Qidong usually get higher grades on the Gao Kao, China's national college entrance examination.

Over ninety percent of graduates from Qidong Middle School attend first-class universities every year.

The stage process design and mechanical equipment configuration of the grand theater can meet the requirements of various large-scale operas, dances, ballets, concerts, large-scale comprehensive literary and artistic performances while taking into account the conference function.

Major agriculture crops produced in the area include wheat, corn, soybeans, peanuts, yams, and cotton.

The rumors said that the Japanese company bribed the mayor, and the wastewater was going to pollute the drinking water of Qidong.

About 10,000 Qidong citizens ran out to the street and joined the protest, they crashed the cars and threw stones into the government building.