Location: located in southern China. It is bordered by Yunnan Province to the west, Guizhou to the north, Hunan to the northeast, and Guangdong to the southeast, and by Vietnam and the Beibu Bay to the southwest.
Area: 236,661 sq km
Climate: Throughout the region, temperatures are warm enough to assure agricultural production throughout the year. The summer, covering a seven-month period from April to October, is marked by enervating heating and high humidity. Winter is mild and snow rare. July temperatures vary between 27°C and 32°C, while January temperatures range between 4°C and 16°C. The north experiences slightly cooler temperature than the south.
Provincial capital: Nanning
Population: 44.89 millions (March 2001)
Ethnic groups: Han,Yao, Miao, and Dong
Major Cities: Beihai; Guilin; Liuzhou
Agriculture: Major grain crops include rice, maize, wheat, and sweet potatoes. The leading commercial crops include peanuts, sesame, ramie or China grass, tobacco, tea, cotton, and indigo. Guangxi is also a major producer of fruits -- notably pomelos (a kind of grapefruit), tangerines, mandarin oranges, lemons, litchis (the fruit of a plant of the soapberry family), pears, papayas, bananas, and water chestnuts.
Industry: Light industries produce textiles, paper, flour, silk, leather, matches, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, as well as sandarac gum, sugar, dyestuffs, and oils and fats. Pine resin is a particularly notable export commodity of Wuzhou. Heavy industries include the iron works and steelworks at Liuzhou, machinery production at Nanning and Wuzhou, and the cement works at Liuzhou. Among the numerous handicraft products, special mention may be made of the native cotton cloth of Yulin; the ramie cloth of Guilin; the bamboo paper and rice paper of Chaoping and Guilin; and the bamboo combs of Guilin, Pinyang produces such articles as ceramics, fans, felt caps, copperware, combs, brushes and straw bonnets.
