Guangxi

Area: 236,000sq.km/91,000sq.mi

Population: 43,240,000. Capital: Nanning

The autonomous region of Guangxi lies in south China, between 104°29' and 112°03'E and 20°54' and 26°23'N.

In addition to the Han population, a large proportion of the people living in Guangxi belong to the ethnic minority known as the Zhuang, whose language is similar to that of the Thais. In addition, the Yao, Miao, Dong, Maonan, Hui, Jing, Yi, Shui and Gelao ethnic groups all live here. It was for that reason that in 1958 the central government established the Autonomous Region of Guangxi, one of the five such autonomous regions for national minorities with a status similar to that of a province (the other four being Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Ningxia). The birth-control regulations which apply to all Han people do not apply to the minorities, with the result that in some cases their rate of population growth clearly exceeds that of the Han population. Some 85 per cent of this region on the upper reaches of the Xijiang river is boldly structured mountainous country of karst stone rising from the coastal plain on the Gulf of Tonkin (Beibu Wan) in the south (which extends as far as the central part of the region) up to the plateaus of Guizhou and Yunnan. The highest peak is Mount Miao'ershan (2142m/7030ft), in the northern Yuecheng Ling chain.

The subtropical monsoon climate is characterized by long, hot summers and generally mild winters. In July the average temperature reaches 27°C (81°F) in the north and 32°C (90°F) in the south, while in the month of January it is 4°C (39°F) in the north and 16°C (61°F) in the south. Rain falls in the months of April to September, with annual amounts of between 1000 and 2000 mm (40 and 80 in).

Conflicts have been the dominating factor in Guangxi's history. Up until the 19th C the Han and the ethnic minorities fought for possession of the region, and then the French and the British tried to gain control. At the end of the 19th C Longzhou, Wuzhou and Nanning were obliged to open themselves up to foreign trade. In 1939 and 1944 Guangxi was occupied by the Japanese.

After 1949 Guangxi's industry grew at a fast rate; major branches are food (sugar factories), metallurgy and chemicals, engineering, cement and electronics. Mineral resources include crude oil, natural gas, coal, iron, zinc, nickel and bauxite. Agriculture is Guangxi's major industry, however, even though only 12 per cent of the total land area is suitable for cultivation. Tropical fruits such as bananas and pineapples are important crops. The climate in the south in particular means that rice (two crops every year) and sugar-cane can be grown. In the wooded north sandalwood and cork are produced. Fishing also has an important role to play.