Changting, situated in the western Fujian province, is the fifth-largest county of the province. It has a population of 480,000, with an area of 3,099 sq. kilometres, and has the town of Tingzhou as its county seat. Hakka people who speak Changting dialect accounts for the majority of the population. The dialect is part of the Hakka Chinese and is mutually unintelligible with the Meixian dialect, which is in use in the Guangdong province.
Changting has Ninghua county towards the north, Wuping and Shanghang counties towards the south, Liancheng County towards the east, and Ruijin City in Jiangxi province towards the west. Changting is part of a subtropical zone, and is situated towards the southern end of the Wuyi Mountains. The area receives a large amount of rainfall as the warm maritime air meets the cool air in the mountains.