Province · Southwest China
Guizhou
贵州
Karst uplands of the Miao, Dong and Buyei
Guizhou is a mountainous province on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau in south-west China, almost entirely made up of hills and karst. Its capital is Guiyang; about a third of its people belong to ethnic minorities, notably the Miao, Buyei and Dong, and the province is home to the Huangguoshu Waterfall, the town of Maotai and four UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Key facts
- Capital
- Guiyang
- Abbreviation
- 贵 (Guì) or 黔 (Qián)
- Area
- about 176,200 km²[1]
- Resident population
- 38.57 million(as of end of 2025)[2]
- Gross regional product
- CNY 2.36 trillion(as of 2025)[2]
- Census population
- 38.56 million(as of 2020 census)[3]
- Divisions
- 6 prefecture-level cities, 3 autonomous prefectures[1]
- UNESCO World Heritage sites
- 4 (2007–2018)[4]
Profile
- Chinese name
- 贵州
- Abbreviation (简称)
- 贵 or 黔
- Type
- Province
- Region
- Southwest China
- Capital
- Guiyang
- Area
- about 176,167 km²
- Divisions
- 6 prefecture-level cities and 3 autonomous prefectures (Qiandongnan Miao and Dong, Qiannan Buyei and Miao, Qianxinan Buyei and Miao)
- Ethnic groups
- Han, Miao, Buyei, Tujia, Dong, Yi, Gelao, Shui
- Languages
- Guizhou Mandarin, Hmong (Miao), Buyei, Kam (Dong), Shui script
Languages
Guizhou Mandarin
贵州话
Varieties of Southwestern Mandarin, close to Sichuanese and Yunnanese, spoken by almost everyone as a common language.
Hmong (Miao)
苗语
Several mutually unintelligible Hmongic languages spoken in the south-east, centre and west of the province.
Buyei
布依语
Tai language closely related to northern Zhuang, spoken in the south and south-west.
Kam (Dong)
侗语
Tonal Kam–Sui language of the Dong villages in the south-east, the language of the Dong grand songs.
Shui script
水书
A ritual script used by Shui priests in Sandu for divination and calendars; the Shui language itself is spoken in Qiannan.
Name and abbreviation
The name 贵州 is first recorded in 974, when Emperor Taizu of Song addressed a local chieftain of Juzhou (矩州) with the words “惟尔贵州” — “you of Guizhou”. The name, meaning “precious prefecture”, stuck to the area around present-day Guiyang, and in 1413 the Ming made it the name of a new province. The alternative abbreviation 黔 (Qian) goes back to the Qianzhong commandery (黔中郡) of the Warring States kingdom of Chu and the Qin dynasty, and later to the Tang-era Qianzhong circuit; it survives in the names of three autonomous prefectures and in Qian cuisine.
Historic names
夜郎
Kingdom of the Warring States and early Han period in the west of today's Guizhou; the phrase 夜郎自大, “the arrogance of Yelang”, comes from its ruler's question whether Han was bigger than his own state.
黔中
Commandery and later circuit name, the origin of the abbreviation 黔.
播州
The territory around Zunyi ruled by the hereditary Yang chieftains from the late ninth century to 1600.
Land and climate
Guizhou lies on the eastern part of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, sloping from above 2,000 metres in the west to a few hundred metres in the east. Around nine-tenths of the province is mountain or hill, and limestone karst covers most of it: tower hills, sinkholes, underground rivers, caves and waterfalls. Flat land is scarce and farmed in small basins called bazi (坝子). The Wumeng Mountains rise in the west, the Dalou Mountains in the north, the Miaoling in the centre and the Wuling range with Fanjingshan in the north-east. Deep river gorges have made Guizhou a showcase of bridge building.
Landforms
Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau
云贵高原
The dissected karst plateau that covers the province.
Wumeng Mountains
乌蒙山
Western range; its summit Jiucaiping (韭菜坪) in Hezhang, at about 2,900 m, is the highest point of the province.
Miaoling Mountains
苗岭
The central range that divides the Yangtze and Pearl River basins.
Fanjingshan
梵净山
Highest peak of the Wuling range at 2,572 m, a Buddhist mountain and a World Heritage site.
Karst
喀斯特
Libo, the Wanfenglin cone karst near Xingyi and the Zhijin Cave are among the best-known karst landscapes.
Rivers and lakes
Wu River
乌江
The largest river of the province, flowing north to the Yangtze in Chongqing; dammed in a cascade of hydropower stations.
Chishui River
赤水河
Red, silt-laden river on the border with Sichuan, whose water is used by the distilleries of Maotai; crossed four times by the Red Army in 1935.
Beipan River
北盘江
Flows through deep gorges in the west, spanned by some of the highest bridges in the world.
Nanpan River
南盘江
Upper Pearl River, forming part of the border with Guangxi.
Qingshui River
清水江
Flows east through the Miao and Dong country of Qiandongnan into Hunan, historically a timber-rafting route.
Climate
Guizhou has a mild, humid subtropical monsoon climate moderated by altitude: summers are warm rather than hot — Guiyang is a popular summer retreat — and winters are cool, damp and cloudy. The province has some of the fewest sunshine hours in China, and freezing rain can glaze the mountains in winter. Spring and autumn are the best seasons for travel; the rainy months of late spring and summer bring the waterfalls to full flow.
History
In antiquity the region lay beyond the Chinese states, home to the Yelang kingdom and other peoples whom Han armies drew into the empire's orbit from the late second century BCE. For more than a millennium it was governed indirectly through hereditary native chieftains (土司), the most powerful being the Yang family of Bozhou around Zunyi. The Ming made Guizhou a province in 1413 to secure the route to Yunnan, settling garrison soldiers whose descendants still live in the tunpu villages of Anshun. The philosopher Wang Yangming formulated his teaching of the unity of knowledge and action in exile here in 1508. Under the Qing the chieftaincies were replaced by regular administration, which provoked major Miao uprisings. In January 1935 the Zunyi Conference changed the leadership of the Communist Party during the Long March. Long one of China's poorest provinces, Guizhou has been transformed since the 2010s by expressways, high-speed rail and data centres.
4th–1st century BCE
The Yelang kingdom
A regional power in the west of the province; its ruler received a Han seal after the Han expanded into the south-west in the 110s BCE.
974
The name Guizhou first appears
Used in an edict of Emperor Taizu of Song to a local chieftain.
876–1600
The Yang chieftains of Bozhou
Ruled the Zunyi region for more than seven centuries until Yang Yinglong's rebellion was crushed in 1600 at the fortress of Hailongtun.
1413
Guizhou becomes a province
The Yongle Emperor created the province to secure the road to Yunnan; Ming garrisons and migrants settled along it.
1508
Wang Yangming's enlightenment at Longchang
Exiled to a post station near today's Xiuwen, the philosopher arrived at the ideas of Neo-Confucian “learning of the mind” (心学) that made him one of the most influential Ming thinkers.
1726–1735
Replacement of native chieftains
Under the Yongzheng Emperor, the governor-general Ortai replaced hereditary chieftains with appointed officials (改土归流), a policy that led to a large Miao uprising in 1735.
1855–1872
Miao uprising in south-eastern Guizhou
Led by Zhang Xiumei, one of several rebellions of the period; its suppression devastated the south-east.
January 1935
Zunyi Conference
A meeting of the Communist Party leadership during the Long March that gave Mao Zedong a leading role in military command.
1940–1946
Zhejiang University in Zunyi and Meitan
The wartime university made the small towns centres of scholarship; many other institutions and factories also moved to the province.
1964–1970s
Third Front construction
Defence, aviation and heavy industry were built in the interior, including around Guiyang, Anshun and Liupanshui.
2014
Gui'an New Area and high-speed rail
The Guiyang–Guangzhou high-speed railway opened and Gui'an became a national-level new area, followed in 2016 by the national big data pilot zone.
2016
FAST radio telescope completed
The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope was built in a natural karst depression in Pingtang county.
World heritage
World Heritage sites
Natural · inscribed 2007 · shared
中国南方喀斯特
The forested cone karst of Libo was inscribed in 2007 and the dolomite karst of Shibing added in 2014, alongside sites in Yunnan, Chongqing and Guangxi.
Natural · inscribed 2010 · shared
中国丹霞
Chishui, with red sandstone cliffs, waterfalls and tree-fern forests, is one of six Danxia landforms inscribed together.
Cultural · inscribed 2015 · shared
土司遗址
Hailongtun, the mountain fortress of the Yang chieftains near Zunyi, is inscribed with two chieftain seats in Hunan and Hubei.
Natural · inscribed 2018
梵净山
An island of ancient metamorphic rock above the karst, with high plant diversity and the only habitat of the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey.
Intangible cultural heritage (UNESCO lists)
Inscribed 2009
Grand song of the Dong ethnic group
侗族大歌
Polyphonic choral singing without instruments or a conductor, performed by Dong choirs in the drum towers of south-eastern Guizhou and neighbouring provinces.
Culture
Guizhou is one of China's most ethnically diverse provinces. Miao villages of wooden houses on terraced slopes, Dong villages with drum towers and covered bridges, and Buyei stone houses stand beside Han towns founded by Ming garrisons. Festivals punctuate the year with lusheng music, bullfights and horse races, and textiles — batik, embroidery, silver ornaments — carry the identity of each group.
天无三日晴，地无三里平。Tiān wú sān rì qíng, dì wú sān lǐ píng.
“The sky is never clear for three days running; the land is never flat for three li.”
— Proverb about Guizhou
Opera, music and dance
Dong grand song
侗族大歌
Multi-part choral singing imitating birds, insects and running water.
Lusheng
芦笙
Bamboo mouth organ of the Miao and Dong, played in groups while dancing in circles at festivals.
Dixi masked opera
地戏
Open-air masked drama of the tunpu communities of Anshun, telling heroic tales from historical novels.
Nuo ritual drama
傩戏
Masked exorcistic performance, preserved among the Tujia and Gelao around Dejiang and Daozhen.
Crafts
Batik
蜡染
Wax-resist dyeing with indigo, practised by Miao and Buyei women in Anshun, Danzhai and elsewhere.
Miao embroidery
苗绣
Dense embroidery on festival clothing, with techniques and motifs particular to each Miao branch.
Miao silver
苗族银饰
Horned headdresses, neck rings and breastplates made by village silversmiths and worn by young women at festivals.
Drum towers and wind-and-rain bridges
鼓楼与风雨桥
Dong timber architecture built with mortise-and-tenon joints and no nails.
Festivals and customs
Miao New Year
苗年
Celebrated after the harvest, usually in the tenth or eleventh lunar month, with lusheng dancing and feasts.
Sisters' Meal Festival
姊妹节
Spring festival of the Miao in Taijiang, when young women offer coloured sticky rice to suitors.
Sixth of the Sixth
六月六
Buyei festival on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, with singing and offerings for the harvest.
Cuisine
Guizhou cooking (黔菜) is defined by chilli and sourness. Chillies are used fresh, dried, pounded, pickled and fried into oil, and the sour flavour comes from fermented rice water, tomatoes and pickles rather than vinegar — a tradition often explained by the historic scarcity of salt in the mountains. Rice noodles are the daily staple, and the herb zhe'ergen, a pungent root, appears in salads and dips.
Signature dishes
Sour soup fish
酸汤鱼
Fish simmered in a red sour soup of fermented tomatoes and chilli, the signature dish of the Miao around Kaili.
Silk dolls
丝娃娃
Thin pancakes wrapped around shredded vegetables and dipped in sour and spicy sauce — a Guiyang street snack.
Changwang noodles
肠旺面
Egg noodles with pork intestine and blood tofu in a red chilli broth, a Guiyang breakfast.
Huaxi beef rice noodles
花溪牛肉粉
Rice noodles in a beef broth with pickled vegetables, from the Huaxi district of Guiyang.
Guizhou chilli chicken
辣子鸡
Chicken braised with ciba chilli paste (糍粑辣椒), pounded from soaked dried chillies.
Zhe'ergen
折耳根
Root of fish mint (Houttuynia cordata), eaten raw with chilli; an acquired taste for most visitors.
Specialities
Kweichow Moutai
茅台酒
Sauce-aroma baijiu distilled from sorghum in the town of Maotai in Renhuai, beside the Chishui River; China's most prestigious spirit.
Duyun Maojian
都匀毛尖
Fine, curled green tea from Duyun in Qiannan.
Laoganma chilli crisp
老干妈
Chilli oil with fried chilli and fermented soybeans, founded in Guiyang in the 1990s and sold worldwide.
Batik textiles
蜡染
Indigo wax-resist cloth from Anshun and the Miao areas.
Dafang lacquerware
大方漆器
Lacquer craft from Dafang county in Bijie, made with local raw lacquer.
Notable people
Wang Yangming (1472–1529)
王阳明
Ming philosopher from Zhejiang whose exile at Longchang (1508–1510) produced his central ideas; he also taught at the academies of Guiyang.
Zheng Zhen (1806–1864)
郑珍
Scholar and poet from Zunyi, co-author with Mo Youzhi of a celebrated local gazetteer of Zunyi.
Mo Youzhi (1811–1871)
莫友芝
Bibliographer and calligrapher from Dushan; with Zheng Zhen one of the leading Qing scholars of the south-west.
Ding Baozhen (1820–1886)
丁宝桢
Qing official from Pingyuan (now Zhijin); as governor-general of Sichuan he restored Dujiangyan, and kung pao chicken is named after his title.
Wang Ruofei (1896–1946)
王若飞
Early Communist leader from Anshun who died in a plane crash after the Chongqing negotiations.
Economy
Guizhou's economy has long rested on coal, hydropower, tobacco, phosphate and liquor, with Maotai among the most valuable companies in China. Since the mid-2010s the province has promoted itself as a data-centre base, drawing on its cool climate, cheap electricity and geological stability, and it has invested heavily in expressways, high-speed rail and airports that now reach every prefecture. Tourism to the karst landscapes and minority villages has grown with this infrastructure.
Main industries
- Baijiu (Maotai and the Chishui valley distilleries)
- Coal, electricity and the west-to-east power transmission
- Big data and data centres
- Phosphate and aluminium chemicals
- Aviation and aerospace (Anshun and Guiyang)
- Tobacco, tea and chilli
- Tourism
Zones, ports and hubs
Gui'an New Area
贵安新区
National-level new area between Guiyang and Anshun (approved 2014), home to large data centres and university campuses.
National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone
国家大数据（贵州）综合试验区
Designated in 2016, the first of its kind in China; Guiyang has hosted an annual big data expo since 2015.
Guiyang Comprehensive Bonded Zone
贵阳综合保税区
Customs-bonded manufacturing and logistics zone in the Guiyang economic development area.
Cities
- Guiyang贵阳Capital · Cultural centreForest city on the Nanming River and gateway to the karst
- Zunyi遵义Historic city · Industrial centreSeat of the Bozhou chieftains, the Zunyi Conference and the Maotai distilleries
- Anshun安顺Scenic area · Historic cityHuangguoshu Waterfall and the Ming garrison villages
- Kaili凯里Cultural centreGateway to the Miao and Dong villages of south-east Guizhou
Mountains and nature
- ForestChishui Danxia赤水丹霞Red sandstone gorges, waterfalls and tree-fern forest
- Sacred mountain · 2,570 mMount Fanjing梵净山Maitreya's mountain and an island of ancient forest
- WaterfallHuangguoshu Waterfall黄果树瀑布The great fall of the Baishui River in Guizhou's karst
- Karst landscapeLibo Karst Forest荔波喀斯特Forested cone karst on the edge of the Guizhou plateau
Getting there
- Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport is the main air gateway; Zunyi, Tongren, Kaili, Anshun, Xingyi and other cities have regional airports.
- Guiyang North and Guiyang East stations lie on high-speed lines to Guangzhou, Kunming, Changsha and Shanghai, Chongqing and Chengdu.
- Expressways cross the province on bridges and through tunnels, reaching every county; many of the highest bridges in the world are in Guizhou.
Entry rules for foreign visitors are on the visa and entry pages.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Guizhou Provincial People's Government — Guizhou Provincial People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- 贵州省2025年国民经济和社会发展统计公报 (Statistical Communiqué of Guizhou on the 2025 National Economic and Social Development) — Guizhou Provincial Bureau of Statistics (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- World Heritage List: China — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Intangible Cultural Heritage: China — UNESCO (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Guizhou — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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