Qujing is a prefecture-level city in eastern Yunnan province of southwest China. It is an important industrial and commercial city, and is Yunnan’s second largest city by comprehensive power, after Kunming. It is part of the Central Yunnan Metropolitan Region plan. Qujing is located near Guizhou Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, so it was called “Key between Yunnan and Guizhou” and “Throat of Yunnan” in the past.

Its population is 6,047,000 according to the 2015 census, of whom, 1,408,500 reside in the metro area, which contains Qilin District, Zhanyi District and Malong District. The government of Qujing plans to develop the city into the “big city at the origin of the Pearl River” in the following decades.

Tempered by the low latitude and moderate elevation, Qujing has a mild subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb), with short, mild, dry winters, and warm, rainy summers. Frost may occur in winter but the days still generally warm up to around 15 °C (59 °F). During summer, a majority of the days features some rainfall, and daytime temperatures rise to 25 °C (77 °F). A great majority of the year’s rainfall occurs from June to October.

Tobacco, automobiles, power generation and chemical engineering are the main industries in Qujing.