Kwangsi Chuang Autonomous Region

in southern China, in the basin of the Hsi River. Formed in 1958 within the boundaries of the former Kwangsi Province. Area, 220,400 sq km. Population, 24 million (1968), of which 58.5 percent are Chinese (Han), 36.5 percent are Chuang, and 5 percent are Yao, Miao, T’ung, and other national minorities. The administrative center is Nanning.

Natural features. A large part of the region is composed of extremely fragmented low hills. Heights of less than 1,000 m predominate; the highest point is 2,070 m. The northwestern section is the Yunnan-Kweichow Plateau. In the north there are karstic forms of relief. The average January temperature is 6° C in the north to 14° C in the south; in July the average is from 24°-28° C. The rivers in the Hsi River system have high water levels; they are surrounded by evergreen forests and ore deposits of manganese, tin, and other minerals.

Economy. The leading branch of the economy is agriculture, and 11.5 percent of the region is cultivated. There are two or three crop harvests each year. The principal agricultural crop is rice (64 percent of the total cultivated area). Sweet potatoes, sugarcane, peanuts, ramie, sesame, rape, tobacco, and fruits (litchis, and bananas) are also widespread. Animal husbandry (cattle and hogs) and poultry breeding are subsidiary occupations. The Kwangsi Chuang Autonomous Region is an important producer of spices (cinnamon and anise). There are timber exploitation areas in the upper reaches of the Jungchiang River. The processing of agricultural output is very important, as represented by the rice polishing, vegetable oil extraction, wood processing, paper, textile, and sugar industries. There is extraction and processing of metal ores—tin in the Fuchung-Hohsien region, with smelting at the Hsiwan plant, manganese in Mukuei, lead and zinc in Shihlung and Tahsin, and coal mining in the Hoshan region. There are small metallurgical and machine-building (Liuchou) and chemical (Yungning) enterprises and cottage industries, such as the production of pottery in Pinyang. A ramified network of internal waterways links the region through the Hsi River and its tributaries to Kwangtung Province, and through the Hsiangkuei Canal to the basin of the Yangtse River. The Kwangsi Chuang Autonomous Region is linked by railroad to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Historical survey. In ancient times the territory of the Kwangsi Chuang Autonomous Region was settled mainly by the Chuang people. In the third and second centuries B.C., China conquered this territory and at the same time began to settle and develop it. In the second half of the 17th century, on the basis of the Kwangsi Administration, which had authority over the territory of the Kwangsi Chuang Autonomous Region, Kwangsi Province was created. In the late 18th and early 19th century a revolt by the Pailienchiao sect spread to Kwangsi. In 1847–50 there were several popular revolts in Kwangsi, and in the summer and fall of 1850 the peasant war of the Taiping began. Toward the end of the 19th century the economic expansion of the capitalist powers into Kwangsi intensified. In 1898, France compelled the Chinese government to recognize Kwangsi as a sphere of French influence. After the defeat of the bourgeois Hsinhai Revolution (1911–13), Kwangsi was under the rule of the so-called Kwangsi clique of militarists, which was being supported by British imperialism. In 1944–45 Kwangsi was occupied by Japanese troops. In late 1949 the People’s Liberation Army of China cleared Kwangsi of the Kuomintang.