Xingtai City, abbreviated as "Xing" and known as Xingzhou and Shundefu in ancient times, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei Province, a Type II large city, a node city of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei City Cluster as approved by the Hebei Provincial Government, and an advanced manufacturing base and logistics hub in central and southern Hebei. As of the end of 2022, the city has 4 districts, 12 counties and 2 county-level cities under its jurisdiction, with a total area of 12,400 square kilometers, a resident population of 7,025,600, an urban population of 3,881,600 and an urbanization rate of 55.25%.
Xingtai is located in the south of Hebei Province, at the eastern foot of the southern section of the Taihang Mountains, at the western edge of the North China Plain, bordering Shandong Province to the east by the Wei Canal, neighboring Shanxi Province to the west by the Taihang Mountains, connecting with Handan City to the south, and bordering Shijiazhuang City and Hengshui City in the north and northeast, respectively, and 106 kilometers away from Shijiazhuang City, the capital city of the province in the north, and 396 kilometers away from the capital city of Beijing.
Xingtai has more than 3,500 years of history, 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, there are human beings living and reproducing, is the first city in the history of North China, "five dynasties of the ancient capital, ten dynasties of the Xiongnu County", after more than 3,000 years of the administrative system has not been interrupted, the city site has not been relocated. Xingtai Ancient City is the earliest "First Ancient City" in the area north of the Yellow River, and is known as the "First City of Yan and Zhao". Its long history has produced sages such as Guo Shoujing, Wei Zheng, Li Mu, Song Jing, Liu Bingzhong, and emperors such as Guo Wei, Chai Rong, Meng Zhixiang, Meng Chang, etc. The first emperor of the ancient times, Qin Shihuang, collapsed in Xingtai's sand dunes during his eastward tour. Xingtai is also the ancestral home of the Tang Dynasty royal family (Tang Ancestral Tomb), and has witnessed events affecting the course of Chinese history, such as Yao and Shun's cession of the throne, the Hudu Riding Archery, the Battle of Julu, and the Yellow Turbans Uprising, etc. Nearly one hundred idioms and allusions, such as "breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat", "the deer is dead and who is to be killed", "the people's fat and the people's wealth", and "being attacked by an enemy from the rear", etc., originated from Xingtai.
In 2023, Xingtai completed a gross regional product of 258.61 billion yuan.