Zigong ancient name Ziliujing and Gongjing, is a prefecture-level city and the third largest city in Sichuan Province, in southwest China. Granted the recognition as one of the Historical and Cultural Cities of China by the State Council of the People's Republic. Zigong has long been renowned as "Salt City" for its brine extraction techniques and the attendant salt-related culture. In ancient China, Salt was regarded as the energy for body and valued higher even than Gold. Therefore, salt trading was always the most profitable business and salt merchants were the wealthiest people. Hence, Zigong had always been one of the richest cities in China until the founding of Peoples' Republic of China with the introduction of new salt producing methods and advancing of technologies.

It has had the Zigong Salt Museum since 1736. The Zigong area's population is approximately 3.2 million (which covers five major districts and rural areas). The Fuxi River, a tributary to the Yangtze River, snakes through the city's core. The area is very humid and the visibility can be reduced dramatically in the area due to ground fog. The humidity and fog of Zigong can be attributed to that it sits on what was once a vast inland sea. Changes in the environment caused the water levels to subside leaving salt, brine, and natural gas.

During the summer months the temperatures can reach to 40°C (104° F) during the winter months the temperatures hover around 15.5° C (60° F). The humidity hovers between 80% and 90% year round.

Zigong is situated south of the Sichuan basin hill country. To the East of Zigong is Luzhou and to the west of Zigong is Leshan. To Zigong's south is Yibin and to the north-east is the city of Neijiang.

Although the region has rich history into antiquity, the prefecture-level city called "Zigong" is a modern name. In 1939, two older cities were combined to make Zigong - Ziliujing (some have romanized this name as "Tzeliutsing") and Gongjing to be named Zigong. The Zigong name is a combination of both older cities names.

Both previous cities - Gongjing and Ziliujing made up what had become one of the busiest saltworks (or saltyards as they are called locally) in China - the Furong Saltyard. The main products were a uniquely rich salt called "hua" salt - which dominated salt from the other Sichuan producers and the "ba" salt which became popular in other provinces in China.

The area of Zigong has a long history in ancient China - with the invention and development of "Percussion Drilling" being one of the city's accomplishments. There are essentially two cities - that of the old and the new. The city was reached by rail in the 1950s. Several four lane highways reach the city from other cities in the Sichuan province. The new city of Zigong has been modernizing since the late 1970s - but more rapidly since the early 1990s. The old "Salt" city is based on industry and farmland and a new "Tourism" city which caters primarily to Chinese tourists (as Zigong is better known within mainland China). Zigong is host to the Sichuan University of Science and Engineering as well as a new High Technology Zone.