Du’an Yao Autonomous County, Hechi, Guangxi, China
Its location in the far south of China, along the border with Vietnam, and its mountainous terrain has made it one of the border frontiers of Chinese civilisation. Even into the 20th century it was considered an open, wild territory. The current name “Guang” itself means “expanse”, and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in 226 CE. It was given provincial level status during the Yuan Dynasty and in 1949 was reformed as one of China’s five minority autonomous regions.
The abbreviation of the province is “桂” (Zhuang: Gvei), which comes from the city of Guilin, the former capital, centre of much of Guangxi’s culture, politics, and history, and currently a major city in the autonomous region.