Nan'ao County, subordinate to Shantou City, Guangdong Province, is the only island county in Guangdong Province. It is located on the southeast coast of Guangdong Province. It is 4.1 nautical miles from Laiwu, Chenghai, in the east, 2.75 nautical miles from Haishan Island, Raoping County in the north. It is between 116 ° 53 ′ - 117 ° 19 ′ E and 23 ° 11 ′ - 23 ° 32 ′ N, with a sea area of 4600 square kilometers and a land area of 114.74 square kilometers. It has jurisdiction over three towns. It is a pilot project of fiscal reform in counties directly under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Province.

The "Xiangshan Culture" unearthed in Nan'ao about 8000 years ago is the earliest Neolithic cultural relic discovered by archaeology in eastern Guangdong. In the sixth year of Yuanding in the Western Han Dynasty (111 BC), Nan'ao entered the territory and was under the jurisdiction of Jieyang County, Nanhai County. In the first year of the Republic of China (1912), it was changed to Nan'ao County. The emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, the ruler of the Southern Ming Dynasty, the king of Lu, the navigator Zheng He, the national hero Qi Jiguang, Zheng Chenggong, and Liu Yongfu all came to South Australia, leaving many historical relics such as the ancient Song well, the recruitment tree, and Xiongzhenguan. Nan'ao County is the closest point between Guangdong Province and Taiwan Province, 162 nautical miles from Kaohsiung, the center of three major ports of Kaohsiung, Xiamen and Hong Kong, and only 7 nautical miles from the main international route of the Pacific Ocean. It is known as "the barrier of Chaoshan and the throat of Fujian and Guangdong". Nan'ao County is the only island county in Guangdong and the only national 4A tourist area in China's island counties (districts). It has a superior geographical location. Since ancient times, Nan'ao has been the necessary mooring point and transit station for trading in the southeast coastal area. It is an important channel for maritime trade, and is known as "the land of mutual trade on the sea".

By the end of 2021, the permanent population of Nan'ao County was 64585. In 2021, Nan'ao County will achieve a gross regional product of 3.473 billion yuan, including 1.197 billion yuan of added value of the primary industry, 5.59 billion yuan of added value of the secondary industry, 1.717 billion yuan of added value of the tertiary industry, and 34.5:16.1:49.4 yuan of added value of the tertiary industry. The county's per capita GDP is 54000 yuan.