General Introduction

Guizhou, a multi-national province on the eastern section of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in southwestern China, has an area of more than 170,000 square kilometers and a population of 27.77 million, of which 80.4 per cent live in the rural areas and 19.6 per cent in the cities. It is inhabited by more than six million minority people, or one-fourth of its total population, from the Miao, Bouyei, Dong, Yi, Shut, Hui, Gelo, Zhuang, Yao and other nationalities.

Scenic Spots

Caohai Lake
Flower Stream (Huaxi)
Guiyang -- City of Gardens
Huangguoshu Waterfall
Maotai Village
Tongren Region Attractions
Underground Park
Xifeng Hot Springs

Topography

Rising between the Sichuan and Guangxi basins, the entire province is called the Guizhou Plateau topographically. Guizhou has 80 per cent of mountain areas, consisting of the Miaoling, Dalou, Wuling and Wumeng ranges. Part of the eastern rim of the second step down the country's topographical staircase, it is high in the west and slopes precipitously from the middle towards the east, north and south. Most of the western and central parts are 1,000-2,000 meters above sea level while the greater part of the east, north and south has an elevation of 600 metres. Owing to folds, faults and erosion, the plateau is intersected with mountains, hills, basins and valleylands, giving it a very rugged topography. In many areas limestone is found with numerous caverns and underground streams.

The area north of the Miaoling range is drained by the Yangtze River, whose larger tributaries are the Wujiang, Chishui and Qingshui rivers. South of the range is the Zhujiang valley, where there are the Nanpan and Beipan rivers, both headstreams of the Xijiang River. The spectacular Huangguoshu Waterfall over the headstream of the Dabang River, a tributary of the Beipan, is one of the country's best-known waterfalls. The largest lake in Guizhou is Caohai.

Climate

Guizhou has a humid, sub-tropical monsoonal climate with warm winters, mild summers and unclear seasonal contrasts. It has a mean annual temperature of 15-17ºC. and a mean annual precipitation of 900-1,500 mm. It has more overcast days than any other part of the country, the area around Guiyang averaging 220 cloudy days a year.

Communications

Railways

Four trunk lines radiate from Guiyang, the capital city, to neighboring provinces with a total mileage of 1,468 kilometers. Electrification transformation has been completed along the Guiyang-Kunming, Sichuan-Guizhou and Hunan-Guizhou railways, which means 1,138 kilometers out of 1,468 kilometers are under electrified operation. This change has raised transportation capacity by 100 percent.

Guizhou is a key area for railway construction in the country. So far, the section of 227 kilometers within Guizhou Province on the Nanning-Kunming Railway has been launched into service. Construction of the second electrified track of the Shuicheng-Zhuzhou Railway which will include 596 kilometers running through Guizhou and which is to be the largest east-west transportation line in the country is soon to begin. Construction for the Shuicheng-Boguo and Huangtong-Zhijin railways with investment by both the central and local governments will also begin very soon. Once completed, these transportation archeries will further elevate Guizhou¡¯s position as a major transportation pivot in southwest China, and benefit the economic development not only in Guizhou but also in neighboring Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

Highways

Now there are over 30,000 kilometers of highways in operation in Guizhou, including five national highways and 30 provincial trunk lines which constitute a highway network with Guiyang as the center and linking up all cities and counties in the province. The first high-standard highway in the southwest¡ªGuiyang-Huangguoshu Highway has been completed while the one of the same standard between Guiyang and Zunyi was built in 1997

Waterways

In 1998, there were 33,604 kilometers of inland waterways in Guizhou with a transportation job of 3.15 million tons completed. This was 42.5 percent over the figure of the previous year.

Airports

By 1998, air routes had been opened to link up Guiyang with 26 cities including Hong Kong, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming, Guilin, Xiamen, Xian, Haihou, Changsha and Wuhan. The Longdongbao Airport, the newly completed large airport in Guiyang, was launched into service on May 28, 1997.