North of Zhumadian is the Longlan Economic Zone, south is the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone, and running through the city from north to south are the Beijing-Guangzhou railway, National Highways 107 and 106 and Beijing-Zhuhai expressway.
1. Rich agricultural resources
With favourable conditions for agricultural production, e.g. wheat, corn, soybean, sesame, peanut, rapeseed, cotton, tobacco and mushroom, the so-called “Granary of the Central Plains”, “Oil Depot” or "Kingdom of Sesame” is an important national and provincial centre of grain and oil production. Among the agricultural products, the quantity of sesame production accounts for one-sixth of the world’s sesame production, ranking first in the country, and Biyang and Zhengyang County are the country’s largest centres of mushroom and peanut production respectively.
2. Many places of historic interest and scenic beauty, rich tourism resources
Tianzhong Mountain and the Shadowless Pagoda in Runan County are National Heritage sites. In Shangcai County, the capital of the State of Cai in the Western Zhou Dynasty, there is the site of the ancient city, the mausoleum of Li Si (Prime Minister of the Qin Dynasty) and the Fu Xi Temple. The “Hermits Office” in Xincai County, the “Eastern Han stone relief” in Zhengyang County, the “2000-year-old Chinese scholartree dating back to the Han Dynasty” in Pingyu County, and the Po Yan Temple and the iron-smelting sites in the Warring States Period in Xiping County all have high archaeological and tourism value. There is the country’s renowned “natural potted landscape” or Chaya Mountain where there was a pioneering people’s commune in China – the Chayashan People’s Commune in Suiping County, China’s largest flatland reservoir Suya Lake or “artificial cavity”, and Mount Boshan National Forest Park with its beautiful scenery of lakes and mountains. There is “Little Yan’an” or Zhugou Memorial Museum in Queshan County, the former residence of the anti-Japanese war hero General Yang Jingyu in Liwan Village in Queshan County, and the Nanhai Zen Temple which was rebuilt thanks to a donation from Taiwan Buddhist master Ming Cheng and which is Asia’s largest Buddhist temple. These are all treasured sites of antiquity and worth visiting. In addition, the legend of the Butterfly Lovers and the story of Journey to the West originate in Runan County and Suiping County respectively.
The prefecture-level city of Zhumadian administers one district (Yicheng) and eight counties (Queshan, Suiping, Xiping, Shangcai, Pingyu, Xincai, Zhengyang, Biyang, Runan). The prefecture has a population of 8.3 million and an area of 15,083 square kilometres. The city was rebuilt on 1st August 2000.
Zhumadian City has a long history and boasts an ancient civilization. There is the temple in Shangcai County dedicated to Fu Xi who was one of the earliest ancestors of mankind, the iron-smelting site in the Warring States Period in Xiping County, and the Tang Dynasty tomb of General Luo Cheng in Xiping County. There is the Tang Dynasty Shadowless Pagoda and Tianzhong Mountain of Yan Zhenqing’s tablet inscription in Runan County, the Northern Qi Dynasty North Spring Temple in Queshan County and the Ming Dynasty bronze statue of Confucius in Dacheng Hall in Xincai County. Li Si (Prime Minister of the Qin Dynasty), the anti-Japanese war hero General Yang Jingyu and other national heroes have all left an indelible mark on the history of Chinese civilization with their brilliance.
Since the city was designated as the National Township Enterprises Demonstration Area for Cooperation between Eastern and Western China in 1996, Cooperation between Eastern and Western China has become the city’s new development feature. Zhumadian hosted the Investment and Trade Fair for Cooperation between Eastern and Western China for eight consecutive years between 1998 and 2005, which not only allowed the city’s township enterprises to gain unprecedented development opportunities, but also established a good image for Zhumadian and increased the city’s popularity as a tourist destination.