Xiayi County, referred to as Li for short, was called Liyi in ancient times. Shangqiu City, Henan Province, has jurisdiction over the county, known as the "Land of Confucius in China". It is located in the east of Henan Province, at the junction of Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, connecting Yongcheng County and Dangshan County in the east, Yucheng County in the west, Qiaocheng District, Bozhou City, Anhui Province in the south, and Shan County, Heze City, Shandong Province in the north. The Longhai Railway and Lian Huo Expressway cross the whole territory of Xiayi. It is the best investment city in the Central Plains to undertake the industrial transfer of the three economic circles of the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Bohai Bay.

As of October 2021, Xiayi County has jurisdiction over 13 towns, 11 townships and 731 administrative villages, with a total area of 1481 square kilometers. According to the data of the seventh population census, as of 00:00 on November 1, 2020, the permanent population of Xiayi County is 896578.

Xiayi is the ancient capital of China, the ancestor of China, and one of the birthplaces of Longshan culture. As early as the Neolithic Age more than 5000 years ago, human beings lived and multiplied here. It is the capital of Li Lu family and one of the birthplaces of Longshan culture. Xiayi was the main capital in the middle Xia Dynasty. In the Xia and Shang Dynasties, it belonged to the State of Yu after Yu Shun. In Qin Dynasty, it was located in Li County. In Zhou Dynasty, it belonged to the State of Song. In Han Dynasty, it belonged to the State of Liang. In the Northern Wei Dynasty, it was called "Xiayi". In the late Jin Dynasty, it was renamed "Xiayi", meaning "the city of China".

Xiayi County is the ancestral home of Confucius, the most holy teacher, and the place where General Peng Xuefeng died. There are Confucius Return Temple and General Peng Xuefeng Memorial Hall. Xiayi is a national grain production base, a hometown of edible fungi in China, an export base of castings in China, a famous cotton textile city in China, a well-known textile industry cluster in Henan Province, a clothing industry base in Henan Province, and a famous hometown of longevity in China.

In 2019, the GDP of Xiayi County was 28.16 billion yuan, an increase of 8%. On May 9, 2019, after the provincial special evaluation and inspection, it reached the poverty eradication standard and officially withdrew from the poverty county sequence.