Guangxi

Coordinates: 23°36′N 108°18′E / 23.6°N 108.3°E / 23.6; 108.3

Guangxi (Chinese: 广西; pronounced [kwàŋɕí]; Zhuang: Gvangjish), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is a Chinese autonomous region in South Central China, bordering Vietnam. Formerly a province, Guangxi became an autonomous region in 1958.

Guangxi's location, in mountainous terrain in the far south of China, has placed it on the frontier of Chinese civilization throughout much of China's history. The current name "Guang" means "expanse" and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in 226 AD. It was given provincial level status during the Yuan dynasty, but even into the 20th century it was considered an open, wild territory.

The abbreviation of the region is "桂" (Pinyin: Guì; Zhuang: Gvei), which comes from the name of the city of Guilin, the provincial capital during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The current capital is Nanning.

History

Originally inhabited by a mixture of tribal groups known to the Chinese as the Baiyue ("Hundred Yue"), the region first became part of China during the Qin dynasty. In 214 BC, the Han Chinese general Zhao Tuo (Vietnamese: Triệu Đà) claimed most of southern China for Qin Shi Huang before the emperor's death. The ensuing civil war permitted Zhao to establish a separate kingdom at Panyu known as Nanyue "Southern Yue". Alternatively submissive to and independent of Han dynasty control, Southern Yue expanded colonization and sinicization under its policy of "Harmonizing and Gathering the Hundred Yue" (和集百越) until its collapse in 111 BC during the southward expansion of the Han dynasty.

List of minor planets: 2001–3000