The city is one of the first opened cities released by the State Council. It is rich in natural resources, including more than 50 kinds of mineral resources, various categories of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, as well as special tourism resources. Through the work done in many years, it has developed a modern industrial system with energy, metallurgy, machinery, electronics, chemical, building materials, textile and clothing, bio-pharmaceutical and food and beverage as backbone sectors, with traditional industries as the foundation and with fast growing high-tech industry as the driving force.

Transportation system is in a good shape, with Jinghu Railway (Beijing-Shanghai), Jinghu Expressway (Beijing-Shanghai) and Jingfu Expressway (Beijing-Fuzhou) and the to-be-constructed Jinghu High-speed Railway (Beijing-Shanghai) all passing through it. It is 80 kilometers from Jinan International Airport and 300 kilometers from Qingdao Port.