Guiyang Overview

Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, is located in southwestern China and on the east side of Yungui Plateau. It is a transfer point for most cities in China and ethnic minority villages in Guizhou province. The city is surrounded by mountains and has a beautiful environment. Like other spring cities, such as Kunming, Guiyang is a famous summer resort in China. The climate there is usually mild and humid, neither too hot nor too cold. In this part, you will have a general understanding of Guiyang City.

Basic Information

• Chinese Name: 贵阳市
• Location: Southwest of China and Central Guizhou Province.
• Government Seat: No.7, Lincheng East Road, Guanshanhu District观山湖区林城东路7号
• Area: About 8034 square kilometers
• Population: An approximate population of 4,862,000
• Minorities: Buyi, Miao, Dong, Hui, Yi, Zhuang, Shui, Hui, etc.  
• Language: Southwest Mandarin
• Airport: Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport
• Railway Stations: Guiyang Railway Station, Guiyang North Railway Station, Longdongbao Railway Station(龙洞堡站)
• Famous Attractions: Qianling Park, Qingyan Ancient Town, Huaxi Park, Jiaxiu Tower, Tianhe Pool, Hongfeng Lake. 

Geography

Guiyang is located in the middle of Guizhou Province, and the geographical coordinates are 106°07'-107°17′ east longitude and 26°11'-26°55' north latitude. It borders Wengan County, Longli County, Huishui County and Changshun County of Qiannan in the southeast, Pingba District of Anshun and Zhijin County of Bijie in the west, Qianxi County and Jinsha County of Bijie as well as Bozhou District of Zunyi in the north. The total area is 8034 square kilometers, accounting for 4.56% of the total area of the whole province.

The landform of Guiyang is mainly mountains and hills. Among them, the mountainous area is 4218 square kilometers, the area of the hills is 2842 square kilometers, the dam land is less, only 912 square kilometers; In addition, there is about 1.2% of canyon and other landforms. The main peak in Guiyang is Qinglong Mountain, which is located in the south of Qingzhen city and the east corner of Chengguan Town, covering an area of 10.5 square kilometers, and the altitude of 1333.5 meters.

Climate

Situated in the southwest of China, on the east side of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, due to its low latitude(106°27′E, 26°44′N) and high altitude (1100 meters), controlled by westerlies, Guiyang enjoys a subtropical humid monsoon climate, with about 15.3℃ of annual average temperate and 77% of annual mean relative-humidity. Neither intense heat in summer nor bitter cold in winter, Guiyang has pleasant climate with moist air, no wind or sand all year around. And pleasant weather in Guiyang makes it a cozy city for living. Meanwhile, its hottest days occur in late July, with the top temperature of around 28℃, and the average temperature in the hottest month is about 24℃. The coldest days are in the early January, rarely going below 0℃. The temperature of the coldest month is about 4.6℃ on average. 

Best Time to Visit

The best time to travel in Guiyang is in spring, summer and autumn, in particular, in the late August. In March and April, you can experience many traditional festivals of Miao minority. From April 30 to May 7, there is the Baiyun National Kites Festival. From June to August is the Hongfeng(red maple) lake tourism festival, lasting nearly 2 months. The best time for visiting the Huangguoshu Waterfalls near Guiyang is summer and autumn. A pleasant weather means that tourists can visit at any time of the year.

Administrative Divisions

Guiyang city has jurisdiction over 6 municipal districts, 3 counties and 1 county-level city. They are further divided into 49 towns, 27 townships(include 18 ethnic towns) and 90 community. Municipal government is located in Guanshanhu District. 

• 6 Municipal District: Nanming District(南明区), Yunyan District(云岩区), Huaxi District(花溪区), Wudang District(乌当区), Baiyun District(白云区), Guanshanhu District(观山湖区)
• 3 Counties: Kaiyang County(开阳县), Xifeng County(息烽县), Xiuwen County(修文县)
• 1 County-level City: Qingzhen City(清镇市)

Ethnic Culture

Guiyang is a multi-ethnic city, the people living in this land, the Han population is in the majority, followed by buyi people and miao people. Besides, there are more than 20 ethnic minority groups such as Dong, Shui, Yi, Zhuang and Hui. When you come to Guiyang, you can not only visit the beautiful scenery of the mountains and water, feel the beautiful scenery of the heaven on earth, but also can experience the folk customs, historic culture and the rich and colorful multi-ethnic groups for yourself. There are rich ethnic festivals, ethnic song and dance and ethnic costumes in Guiyang, including Si Yue Ba(the eighth day of the fourth lunar month) of Miao, San Yue San(the third day of the third lunar month or double third day) of Buyi, Lusheng Dance, Miao and Buyi Costumes, etc, with unique charm. 

Transportation

Equipped with aviation, railway, and highway, Guiyang is one of significant traffic tubs and regional logistics centers in connecting the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta in southwest of China. Sichuan-Guizhou, Hunan-Guizhou, Guizhou-Guangxi and Guiyang-Kunming 4 railways are intersected here, and Guiyang-Guangzhou, Changsha-Kunming, Chongqing-Guizhou, Chengdu-Guiyang, Guiyang-Nanning and other high-speed railway have been built one after another. At present, Guiyang can be available by air, train and long-distance bus from other major cities, such as Chengdu, Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an.

Things to Do

Jiaxiu Tower(甲秀楼)

Situated on south of Guiyang City in Guizhou province, over the Nanming River, Jiaxiu Tower is one of the landmarks of Guiyang. It is a three tiered wooden tower of an exquisite architectural design, which has inspired a great number of writers and celebrities in the past.

Qingyan Ancient Town(青岩古镇)

Qingyan Ancient Town, one of the four ancient towns in Guizhou, located in the southern suburbs of Guiyang City, was built in 1378(the tenth year of Hongwu emperor in Ming dynasty), formerly a military fortress. Qingyan is famous for preserving the buildings of the Ming and Qing dynasties. In addition to the ancient buildings and pleasant scenery, you will also see some minority villages of Miao, Dong and Buyi. Diaojiao tower of Miao, stone house of Buyi, drum tower of Dong and wind and rain bridge add greatly for Guiyang's natural scenery and folk customs.

Huaxi Park(Flower Stream Park)

Huaxi Park is located in the southern suburb 17 kilometers of Huaxi District in Guiyang City, named after the Huaxi(Flower Stream) River, covering an area of more than 800 mu(53 hectares). Huaxi Park, a combination of mountains and water, Pastoral scenery and  ethnic customs, is a famous scenic spot in Guizhou Province, which is known as the Pearl of Plateau.

Hongfeng Lake(红枫湖)

Hongfeng(red maple) Lake is famous for its lakes and islands. It is 33 kilometers from Guiyang and can be reached in less than 1 hour. It consists of four parts: North Lake, South Lake, Rear Lake and minority villages. The lake was surrounded by red maple trees.

Tianhe Pool(天河潭)

Tianhe Pool, located in Shiban Town of Huaxi District, Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, is a scenic spot with typical karst natural scenery, supplemented by the hermit culture of historical celebrities. It is 24 kilometers away from the downtown of Guiyang and 13 kilometers from Huaxi District, with a total area of 15 square kilometers. It owns mountain, river, cave, pool, waterfall, natural stone bridge, canyon and historical site. From Guiyang, you can take bus or the special line to Tianhe pool.

History

Guiyang is a famous historical city, the earliest history dated back to the Spring and Autumn period. Today's Guiyang was under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Ke(柯国) at that time. During the warring States period, it belonged to the country of Yelang(夜郎国), and belonged to Ke prefecture(柯郡) in the period of two Han dynasties. In Tang Dynasty Guiyang belonged to Ju prefecture(矩州). And in the Song Dynasty, Guiyang was called Guizhou. Ju prefecture was changed into Guizhou in 1119(the first year of Xuanhe emperor).

In history, Guiyang's governance was changeable, and the name also experienced a lot of changes. The city walls of Guiyang roughly grow out of Shun Yuan City(顺元城) in Yuan Dynasty, and the city walls were all earth-built and the whole city was earth city at that time. In the Ming Dynasty, the city walls were overhauled and rebuilt into stone walls, and formed the city pattern of "nine doors and four pavilions". Since then, although it was repaired in the Qing dynasty, the basic pattern has not been changed greatly. Nowadays, many city landmarks and road names in Guiyang are related to "nine doors and four pavilions", such as Wenchang Pavilion, Jiaxiu tower, Old East Gate, Grand South Gate, Great West Gate, Weiqing Gate(威清门), Liu Guang Gate(六广门) and so on.

Natural Resources

Biological Resources

The zonal vegetation in Guiyang is a subtropical moist evergreen broad-leaved forest, and the native vegetation in the urban area has been completely destroyed. In 2016, the forest coverage of Guiyang City reached 46.5%. There are 11 forest parks, including 1 at the national level and 10 at the provincial level.

There are 7 categories and more than 100 species of common invertebrates in Guiyang. There are 202 species of vertebrates (subspecies), among them, 50 species of pisce, 11 species of amphibia, 15 species of reptilia, 85 species of aves (subspecies), and 41 species of mammalia (subspecies). Since the 1960s, all kinds of animals have been drastically reduced. There are giant salamander, mandarin duck, golden pheasant, pangolin, myna, dwarf musk deer, and macaque, etc. and various kinds of snakes and lizards. Common wood plants include Pinus massoniana, Chinese fir, cypress, Platycladus orientalis and various oak trees, and more than 10 precious tree species include keteleeria, tsuga chinensis, Carpinus pubescens. The medicinal valuable variety is Cortex Magnolia Officinalis, eucommia ulmoides, Cortex Phellodendri, and the like. In addition, there are a variety of oil plants and aromatic plants. The rare ornamental trees have taxus chinensis var and so on. A variety of medicinal herbs have 127 families and nearly 700 species. In the 1960s, a variety of medicinal woody and herbs can get from the hills in the city. But it's rare in the urban area now.

Water Resources

Guiyang is located in the watershed zone of the Yangtze River system and the Pearl River system. Divided by Tongmuling Mountain(桐木岭) in Huaxi District, south of Tongmuling is Pearl River system and north of Tongmuling is Yangtze River system. There are 98 rivers more than 10 kilometers in Guiyang City, 90 of which are in the Yangtze River Basin and 8 in the Pearl River Basin. The main rivers are Wujiang river, Nanming river, Maotiao river, Yachi river, Anliu river, Yuliang river, Gusa river, Xifeng river and Yangshui river in the Yangtze River system, as well as the Mengjiang river of the Pearl River system. The water resources in Guiyang city are mainly derived from natural rainfall. The annual natural runoff of Guiyang city is 546-640 mm, with an average water production of 563,000 cubic meters per square kilometer, and the total water resources amount is 5.34 billion cubic meters, accounting for 3.9% of the total water resources of the province.

Mineral Resources

The main minerals in Guiyang are coal, bauxite, phosphate ore, pyrite, crystal, quartz sandstone, limestone, dolomite, barite, gypsum and lead-zinc ore, more than 20 kinds. Bauxite and phosphate rock play an important role in China. Bauxite and phosphate ore are the dominant mineral resources in Guiyang area. Other minerals such as barite, crystal and quartz sand have great prospects for development.