Yingkou is a prefecture-level city of Liaoning province. It is a port city of the Bohai Sea. The Liao river (Liao He) goes to the sea at Yingkou. It has two subordinate cities (Ganzhou city and the Dashiqiao city) and four districts (Zhanqian district, Xishi district, Laobian District and Yuquan District).The city has a total area of 5,402 square kilometers, and a population of 2.24 million.

Yingkou was formerly known as Newchwang - one of the Treaty Ports opened under the Treaties of Tianjin of 1858. In fact the town of Newchwang was about thirty miles upstream of Liao He. After the treaty had been signed, the British found that the river near Newchwang was too shallow for their ships. Instead, the treaty port was moved to the area nearer to the river mouth where today's Yingkou is located.

Yingkou is an area rich in natural resources. 32 kinds of metal and non-metal have already been found here. It has the biggest magnesium reserve in China and enjoys the name of magnesium capital of China. It is also one of the four biggest magnesium centers in the world.

In late 2005, the Party Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, Li Keqiang, initiated the "Five Points, One Line" strategy to develop the entire Liaoning coastline, and in particular focusing on the "five points" of the Changxing Island Harbor Industrial Zone in Dalian; Yingkou Coastal Industrial Base; Liaoxi Jinzhou Bay Coastal Economic Zone; Dandong, and the Zhuanghe Huayuankou Industrial Zone.

As a result, Yingkou city is currently undergoing substantial expansion. From its current urban area of 54 square kilometers, Phase One is under way and is adding a further 44 square kilometers of industrial and urban areas to Yingkou. Phase Two (planned to start in 2010) will add a further massive 157 square kilometers.

The land being used is largely marshland reclaimed from the sea and it is largely unoccupied. As a result, the social and fiscal costs of development are less than are usual for Chinese urban and industrial development. The Yingkou port area is also being very substantially increased in size, in the Bayuquan and Xianren harbours.