Cangxi county is located on the northern rim of the Sichuan Basin, the southern foot of the Qinba Mountains and the middle reaches of the Jialing River. It covers an area of 2,330 square kilometers, governs 31 towns and 464 villages (communities), and has a total population of 760,000.

Cangxi boasts a long-standing Taoist culture, a well-known courtyard culture and a distinctive folk culture. Six of its cultural items such as Huanma paper cutting and Qiping silk tapestries have been named items of provincial intangible cultural heritage.

It is among the first counties in the country to be named advanced for cultural works, and is known as "the hometown of Chinese poetry", the "Chinese couplet culture county", and the county of literary reputation in Sichuan province.

It was once an important part of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base, and was the place where the Fourth Red Army Front started the Long March. Three provincial Party secretaries, six members of the CPC Central Committee, and eight founding generals emerged from here. It was listed as one of the six fire collection sites of the torch relay activity for the Long March spirit red tourism. 

Cangxi is the world origin of red kiwifruit, the hometown of snow pears in China, the key county of modern animal husbandry in Sichuan, and one of the main producing areas of authentic Chinese medicinal materials such as Chuanming ginseng. Eighteen of its agricultural products have been certified as pollution-free, green, and organic. 

The county's forest coverage rate is 49.95 percent, giving rise to its reputation as a "natural oxygen bar". There are 10 national A-level scenic spots, one national water conservancy scenic area, one national forest park, one provincial eco-tourism demonstration area, and one provincial natural reserve.

Cangxi has made strong breakthroughs in major projects. The Lanzhou-Chongqing Railway passes through from south to north, the "Cangxi" high-speed railway departs from Cangxi, and the Guangyuan-Nanchong Highway has been completed and opened to traffic. 

It was awarded as a national "four good rural roads" demonstration county. Its kiwifruit, Chinese medicinal materials and healthy farming industries have integrated development, using clean energy to produce medicine and food, and its light industry manufacturing has undergone cluster development.

Cangxi has created a national modern agricultural demonstration zone and a provincial economic development zone, and it was approved as a national comprehensive demonstration county for rural e-commerce, an advanced county in the province's works on "three issues concerning agriculture, countryside, and farmers", and a demonstration county in the province's domestic service industry development. 

In 2019, the county's GDP reached 16.56 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.3 percent. Its comprehensive target performance evaluation has ranked first in the city's seven counties for three consecutive years.