Chicago, located in the southern part of Lake Michigan, is the third largest city in the United States and one of the world's international financial centers.

Chicago is located in the heart of the North American continent, and is the largest commercial center and one of the largest futures markets in the United States. Its metropolitan area has consistently ranked first in the number of newly added enterprises in the United States and is rated as the most evenly developed economy in the United States. In addition, Chicago also has many high-rise buildings, known as the "hometown of skyscrapers". As of July 2018, the population of Chicago was approximately 2.706 million.

Chicago is one of the most important cultural, scientific, and educational centers in the United States, with world-class universities such as The University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the world-renowned Chicago School. As of October 2019, over a hundred Nobel laureates have worked and studied in Chicago (100 at the University of Chicago and 19 at Northwestern University). [6]

Chicago is a tourist destination that received over 50 million tourists from around the world in 2016. The time zone represented by Chicago in Central Time is UTC/GMT-6 (West Sixth District), which is 14 hours away from Beijing Time in UTC/GMT+8 (East Eighth District) (13 hours away from Chicago Daylight Time). In 2016, the gross domestic product of the Chicago area reached $537.3 billion.