Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Rice being harvested in Guilin, China. Rice is the staple food of one third of the world's population.
Autonomous region in south China, bounded to the north by Guizhou, to the northeast by Hunan, to the east by Guangdong, to the south by the Gulf of Tongking, to the southwest by Vietnam, and to the west by Yunnan; area 236,700 sq km/91,400 sq mi; population (2000 est) 44,890,000 (including the Zhuang people, related to the Thai, who form China's largest ethnic minority). The capital is Nanning; other main cities are Guilin, Liuzhou, and Wuzhou. Tourism is an important part of the economy, and the main industries are sugar-refining, metallurgy, fishing(in the Gulf of Tongking), and food- and timber-processing. Because of the tropical climate, the cultivation of crops is possible throughout the year, with rice, maize, barley, millet, sugar cane, tropical fruits, and tea being the main crops.
History
A Qin dynasty army attempted to assimilate Guangxi into the Chinese Empire in 214
BC. However, while the eastern and southern parts of Guangxi came under Chinese rule, the west was largely controlled by Zhuang chieftains. A region on the edge of China, it was famed in historical times for its mountain scenery and its exotic local produce. The Japanese occupied a small enclave on the coast around Beihai in 1938, and occupied the rest of the province in the winter of 1944–45 in order to deny the US Air Force the airfields at Liuzhou and Guilin, used for bombing raids on Japanese territory. Guangxi province became Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 1955.
Topography The area is mostly hilly with rather poor soils, consisting largely of the upper basin of the Xi Jiang River which runs through the province from west to east. In the northern parts of the province, especially around the old capital of Guilin, there are remarkable limestone formations. |
Climate Guangxi's climate is tropical in the south and sub-tropical in the north. The growing season lasts throughout the year and summers are hot and humid. |
People There are over 6 million Zhuang, a Thai people, in Guangxi and they form China's largest single ethnic minority; for this reason the province was designated the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The Zhuang are related to the Dai, or Tai, of Yunnan province and the Thai of Thailand, who migrated from a common home in the mountains of southwest China. Other minority peoples include the Hmong, Yao, Maonan, Mulao, Jing, and Yi. |
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