Lijiang City, a prefecture-level city under the jurisdiction of Yunnan Province, is located at the southeast edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the northwest plateau of Yunnan, and the middle reaches of the Jinsha River. It is an important channel for internationally renowned tourist cities, national historical and cultural cities, the ancient "Southern Silk Road" and the "Ancient Tea Horse Road". The urban center is located at 100 ° 25 'east longitude and 26 ° 86' north latitude, with a total area of 20600 square kilometers. It is adjacent to Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture and Panzhihua City in the east, Jianchuan, Heqing and Binchuan counties in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in the south, and Dayao and Yongren counties in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture in the west and north, respectively, adjacent to Lanping County in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture and Weixi County in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. By 2022, Lijiang has 1 municipal district and 4 counties under its jurisdiction. According to the data of the seventh population census, as of 0:00 on November 1, 2020, the permanent resident population of Lijiang City is 1253878.

Lijiang City is located at the junction of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The terrain is high in the northwest and low in the southeast. The highest point is the main peak of the Yulong Snow Mountain. It belongs to the low-latitude warm temperate plateau monsoon climate. It is rich in water resources and a wide variety of animals and plants. It is one of the key forest areas in Yunnan Province and one of the bases for China's water and electricity transmission from the west to the east. Lijiang City is a multi-ethnic place. In addition to the Han nationality, there are 12 ethnic minorities and 22 ethnic minorities.

Lijiang is the only prefecture-level city with three world heritages at the same time in China. It is rich in tourism resources, with 104 scenic spots, including Lijiang Ancient City, Yulong Snow Mountain, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Laojun Mountain, Shuhe Ancient Town and other well-known tourist attractions. It has been awarded the honorary titles of China's Top 100 Tourism Competitiveness Cities, China's Top 10 Leisure Cities, China's Excellent Tourism Cities, and China's Top 10 Charming Cities, and has been successfully established as a national garden city, a national sanitation city, and a national water-saving city. In 2021, Lijiang will achieve a GDP of 57.05 billion yuan.