Ziyuan County is located in the hinterland of Yuechengling Mountains in the northeast of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. It is the north gate of Guangxi and is under the jurisdiction of Guilin City. Within the territory of South China's first peak Maoer Mountain, is the Yangtze River system and the Pearl River system one of the birthplaces. Ziyuan County is 65.5 kilometers from east to west and 63.4 kilometers from north to south, with a total area of 1941.01 square kilometers. It is a county inhabited by ethnic minorities. A subtropical monsoon climate, the county average altitude above 800 meters, is a typical alpine mountainous area. The county climate is mild, four seasons pleasant, average annual temperature 16.7℃. According to the seventh census, as of midnight on November 1, 2020, the permanent population of Ziyuan County was 139,212.

In 2017, the annual GDP of Ziyuan County was 6.012 billion yuan, an increase of 7.4% over the previous year. On April 24, 2019, the People's government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region approved and agreed to lift Ziyuan County out of poverty.