Kunshan is a satellite city in the greater Suzhou region. Administratively, it is a county-level city within the prefecture-level city of Suzhou. It is located in southeastearn part of Jiangsu Province, China, adjacent to Jiangsu's border with the Shanghai Municipality.
The total area of Kunshan is 921.3 square kilometers. The population of Kunshan is 1.647 million (by 2010). The household population is 730 thousand.
Kunshan is currently regarded as one of the most economically successful county-level administrations in China. The GDP has grown substantially from around 20 billion yuan in 2000 to 210.028 billion yuan (approximately 31.958 billion in USD) in 2010, becoming the first county-level city with gross domestic products exceeding 200 billion yuan. The GDP per capita reached US$45,000 based on the permanent residential population account. It was ranked first in the "25 Best County-level Cities in China" study by Forbes China in 2010. With an immigrant population larger than the number of its permanent residents, Kunshan is the winner of the UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honour Award 2010 along with Singapore and Vienna, the most prestigious award given by the United Nations in recognition of work carried out in the field of human settlements development, for its innovative approach to granting migrants the right to essential services in the city. It also carries titles and awards such as a National Hygiene City, the Excellent Tourism City of China, and the National Garden City, as well as the National Model City of Environment Protection and the National Model Zone of Ecology
