The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Guangdong Province established sister province/state relations in 1983. Boston and Hangzhou city of Zhejiang (1982), Brockton and Zaozhuang city of Shandong (2000), Atepolo and Yangzhou Baoying County of Jiangsu (2007), Cambridge and Beijing Haidian District (2016) are sister cities. Shelburne Falls and Mutianyu, Huairou District of Beijing are friendship villages.

In 2019, Massachusetts' total trade in goods with China was US$6.63 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 15.6%. Imports from China were US$4.26 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 18.4%; exports to China were US$2.37 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 10.2%. China is Massachusetts' third largest export market and second largest source of imports.