Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north, Taizhou to the west, Suzhou and Shanghai to the south across the river, and the East China Sea to the east. Its current population is 7,282,835 at the 2010 census.
In September 26, 2004, the first World Metropolitan Development Forum was held in Nantong. Although the city took a blow from the economic depression of the 1930s, as well as the Japanese occupation of the 1930s and 40s, Nantong has remained an important center for the textile industry. Because of its deep-water harbor and connections to inland navigational canals, it was one of 14 port cities opened to foreign investment in recent Chinese economic reforms.
Nantong has contributed to China’s educational development with several firsts: establishment of the first school for teacher training, the first folk museum, the first school for industrial textile manufacturing, the first school for embroidery, the first drama school, and the first school for the deaf and the blind.