Dongguan is a prefecture-level city in South China's Guangdong province, which is located in the Pearl River Delta, neighboring Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The city is 47 nautical miles from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and 48 nautical miles from Macao.

Dongguan is an important industrial and export city. In 2012, the city's GDP reached 501 billion yuan, ranking 22nd on Chinese cities' GDP list. Its major industries are electronic information, machinery, textiles, furniture production and raw chemicals and chemical products, and its prosperous outsource-manufacture business earned it the nickname “The factory of the world”. International enterprises that set up production facilities in Dongguan include DuPont, Samsung Electronics, Nokia, Coca-Cola, Nestle and Maersk. What’s more, the city is home to many large domestic companies, such as BBK Electronics, Dongguan Fushi Furniture, Dongguan Lamex Furniture, Qisheng Electronics, Tecsun, and Nintaus Digital.

Yet, Dongguan also has a notorious reputation as "the sex capital of China". There are many brothels, massage parlors, nightclubs, saunas and karaoke bars in Dongguan, including high-end luxury hotels that offer illegal sexual services. Although much of the business is illegal, police operations to limit it have been ineffective, in part because many members of the local administration and other officials have business interests in it themselves.