Meizhou, a prefecture-level city under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Province, is located in the northeast of Guangdong Province, at the junction of Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces, with a land area of 15800 square kilometers. In the third year of Qianhe in the Southern Han Dynasty (945), Cheng Xiang was promoted to Jingzhou, leading Cheng Xiang County. In the fourth year of Kaibao's reign (971), Jingzhou was changed to Meizhou. In the 11th year of Yongzheng's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1733), Cheng Xiang was upgraded to Jiaying Prefecture, and its jurisdiction included Cheng Xiang, Pingyuan, Zhenping and the five counties of Xingning and Changle, the former Huizhou Prefecture, known as the five counties of Jiaying. In 1988, the prefecture-level Meizhou City was established. By the end of 2021, Meizhou has a registered residence population of 5416800. As of October 2022, Meizhou has jurisdiction over 2 municipal districts, 5 counties and 1 county-level city.

Meizhou is the main starting point for Hakka people to spread all over the world since the Ming and Qing dynasties, and is the most representative Hakka settlement in the world, known as the "World Hakka Capital". Meizhou is a key hometown of overseas Chinese and an important ancestral home of compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. There are more than 5 million overseas Chinese and 1.8 million Taiwanese in Meizhou. In 2013, the China (Meizhou) Immigration Memorial Square, the only immigration memorial project in China established by UNESCO, was completed. Meizhou is the hometown of Marshal Ye Jianying, the famous old revolutionary base, the cross-strait exchange base, and the only prefecture-level city in Guangdong that belongs to the former Central Soviet Area.

Meizhou is a national historical and cultural city, a leading demonstration area of national ecological civilization, a national experimental area of Hakka cultural and ecological protection, the capital of East Asian culture, an excellent tourist city in China, a national garden city, a national health city, and a national forest city. It is also a famous hometown of culture, overseas Chinese, football, generals, longevity, golden pomelo, hot springs, Hakka dishes, and peace. Meizhou is one of the regional central cities along the border of Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi, the national ecological civilization construction pilot area, the green rise pilot area of Guangdong and the cultural tourism characteristic area, the coastal economic open area, and the economic zone on the west side of the Straits. In 2021, the gross regional product of Meizhou will be 130.801 billion yuan, up 5.5% year on year.