Changzhou is one of the central cities in the Yangtze River Delta. The city extends from 31°09' to 32°04' North latitude and 119°08' to 120°12' East longitude. Bordering the Yangtze River in the north and Taihu Lake in the south, it is halfway between Shanghai and Nanjing, neighboring both Suzhou and Wuxi.

Changzhou belongs to the northern subtropical monsoon region, enjoys a warm climate, good weather and distinctive seasons. The city tree is the southern magnolia, and the city flower is the Chinese rose.

Changzhou has an integrated transportation system with multiple methods to choose from. Around the city there is the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, Shanghai-Nanjing Intercity Railway, Changchun-Shenzhen Expressway, Yangzhou-Liyang Expressway, Shanghai-Chengdu Expressway, Shanghai-Wuhan Expressway, Jiangdu-Yixing Expressway, Shanghai-Yixing Expressway, Changzhou-Liyang Expressway, Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Changzhou Benniu International Airport and Yangtze River Changzhou Port, a national category-1 open port. The Grand Canal passes through the city, and West Taihu Lake, Tianmu Lake and Changdang Lake are scattered in-between the region like pearls. It is a land of fish and rice found in the southern area of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, with many interconnected waterways, lakes and rivers.

Changzhou currently administers the county-level city of Liyang, the districts of Jintan, Wujin, Xinbei, Tianning and Zhonglou, and the Jiangsu Changzhou Economic Zone (CZEZ).

Changzhou is one of the birthplaces of China's national industry. It continues this legacy as an industrial star city and an intelligent manufacturing base in the Yangtze River Delta. In 2019, there were over 4,488 industrial enterprises above the designated size in Changzhou. The added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 9.1%. The growth rate is 2.9 percentage points higher than Jiangsu's average, ranking second in the province and first in southern Jiangsu. The ratio of industrial added value above designated size of primary, secondary and tertiary industries was adjusted to 2.1: 47.7: 50.2.

Over 4,100 foreign companies from 107 countries and regions have invested in Changzhou. Thisincludes 68 of the Fortune 500 companies which have made investments in 116 projects. The city is home to 19 regional headquarters and functional agencies of multinational companies. The paid-inforeign capital achieved 2.63 billion U.S. dollars, up 3.3% from the previous year, the second highest growth rate in south Jiangsu. The city's total import and export volume increased by 2.8% to 233.08 billion yuan.

Changzhou is an ancient city with a written history of over 3,200 years and more than 2,560 years of city governance, nurturing many famous people in various spheres of life. There were 15 emperors, 22 Zhuangyuan (No.1 Imperial Scholars), 11 Bangyan (No.2 Imperial Scholars), 15 Tanhua (No.3 Imperial Scholars) and 1,947 Jinshi (a degree offered by ancient Chinese Imperial Examination) that came from Changzhou. In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), the Changzhou School of Thought, Changzhou School of Painting, Yanghu School of Literature and Menghe School of Chinese Medicineemerged and left a profound influence on the city, and the nation. Changzhou is also the hometown of some of the CPC's early leaders like Qu Qiubai, Zhang Tailei, Yun Daiying and masters in different areas such as Wu Jieping, Wu Zuguang, Hua Luogeng, Yuen Ren Chao, Zhou Youguang, Lu Simian and Liu Haisu. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, there have been more than 60 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering coming from Changzhou.