Guizhou

Guizhou, Wade-Giles romanization Kuei-chou, conventional Kweichow, sheng (province) of southwestern China. It is bounded to the north by Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality, to the east by Hunan province, to the south by the Zhuang Autonomous Region of Guangxi, and to the west by Yunnan province. Guizhou measures more than 350 miles (560 km) from east to west and about 320 miles (515 km) from north to south. The provincial capital is centrally located at Guiyang.

Guizhou has the frontier character of other southwestern plateau lands: rough topography, difficult communication and consequent isolation, and many ethnic minority groups. It was long considered one of China’s poorest and most disadvantaged provinces, as characterized by the folk poem: “The sky is not clear three days; the land is not level for three li (2,115 feet, or 645 metres); the people don’t have three cents.” Area 67,200 square miles (174,000 square km). Pop. (2020) 38,562,148.