Guizhou, also spelled Kweichow is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the southwestern part of the country. Its provincial capital city is Guiyang.

Guizhou was well known by the Chinese for thousands of years but it was not until the Ming dynasty that it came under Chinese domination during which it was made a province. This prompted mass migration from Sichuan, Hunan and its surrounding provinces into Guizhou. Countless rebellions by its native Miao people occurred throughout the Qing dynasty. It was said in the Qing dynasty that every 30 years there would be minor revolts while every 60 years there would be major rebellions. All the revolts would be violently suppressed by the government.

Guizhou adjoins Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality to the north, Yunnan Province to the west, Guangxi Province to the south and Hunan Province to the east. Overall Guizhou is a mountainous province however it is more hilly in the west while the eastern and southern portions are relatively flat.

Southwest Guizhou Prefecture is an important region in the “vast stretch of coal in Southwest China”. At present, the preserved reserves of coal are 7.528 billion tons and the prospective reserves are over 18 billion tons.

Along with the implementation of West Development strategy, a good opportunity of development is coming to exploit the coal resources. Nowadays an exploited set-up has been formed by developing large, medium and small-scale coal mines altogether and coexistence of multiple system of ownership.

The annual productive capacity of 4.5 million tons of crude coal has been formed. It will be transported by Nanning-Kunming railway and channels of the South Panjiang, the North Panjiang and the Hongshui to the South China. The coal resources of South Guizhou Prefecture have been brought out the target of “transmitting coal from west to east”.

Guizhou is a relatively poor and undeveloped province. It also has a small economy compared to the coastal provinces. Its nominal GDP for 2003 was 135.6 billion RMB (16 billion USD). Its per capita of 3568 RMB (470 USD) ranks last in all of the PRC.

Its natural industry includes timber and forestry. It is also an important province for mining, especially in coal, limestone, arsenic, gypsum and oil-shale.

Many historical interests in the Ming and Qing dynasties have both simple and graceful styles, for example, Hongfu Temple, Yangming Temple, Cuiwei Garden, Jiaxiu Pavilion, Junzi Pavilion, Yangming Cave and Qingyan Ancient Town. 107 rock paintings in Yangchang are magic, complicated and thought-provoking. Varied ethnic customs, congenial climate and modern urban views constitute distinctive tourism resources.

The national liquor Moutai is well-known for that “neighbors would be drunk by smelling its flavor while breeze comes, the air would be heavy afar with the aroma by opening its bottle after raining”. Dongjiu ranks among the original eight liquors for its high quality. There are many other fine kinds of liquors as well, such as Xijiu, Zhenjiu, Huaijiu, Yaxijiao, etc., all of them make Zunyi winning the reputation of “Chinese liquor cultural famous city”.

As the spring coming in April, young boys and girls gather to look for lovers by the way of singing and dancing. It is a formal and important ceremony for youth, because the marriage will not be accepted by the family and clan until the couple meet here.