KWEICHOW

Wade-Giles romanization Kuei-chou, Pinyin Guizhou sheng (province) in southwestern China. It is bounded by the provinces of Yunnan on the west, Szechwan on the north, and Hunan on the east and by the Chuang Autonomous Region of Kwangsi on the south. Kweichow has rough topography, poor communications, and consequent isolation. The capital is centrally located Kuei-yang. Kweichow came under large-scale Chinese influence only in the modern era, particularly during the Ming dynasty (13681644), when it was made a province. During the Ch'ing dynasty (16441911), struggles broke out between the minorities, especially the Miao and the Chinese. Rebellions and suppressions became common. Serious revolts occurred in 1854 and 1871 and again between 1941 and 1944 as a result of exploitation and suppression by the warlord Wu T'ing-chang. Bitter struggles between the Miao and Wu armies went on until 1944. Kweichow province is part of an old eroded plateau that is situated between the mighty Plateau of Tibet and the hilly regions of Hunan and Kwangsi and that forms part of a continuously ascending profile of the southwest. Incised valleys, steep gorges, and cliffs are common in the province. The entire terrain slopes at a steep angle from the centre toward the north, east, and south. Kweichow enjoys a mild climate with warm summers and mild winters. It is protected by mountain ranges from severe Siberian cold. Rainfall is fairly uniform and plentiful; typically, the province has high humidity, lengthy cloudy and rainy periods, and little sunshine. The province is said to be without three consecutive rainless days. About three-fourths of the population is Han Chinese. Kweichow also has a large number of minority peoples, who intermingle with the Han people. At least 30 different groups have been identified. The most important of these are the Miao, the Puyi, the Shui, the Tung, and the Yi. Most of the population is rural. There are few cities in Kweichow. Kuei-yang is the largest and Tsun-i is a distant second. The main crops produced are rice, corn (maize), wheat, barley, potatoes, and oats. Industrial crops include rapeseed, cured tobacco, peanuts (groundnuts), cotton, sugarcane, and sesame. Timber and other forestry products are plentiful. Among all the Chinese provinces, Kweichow ranks high in the production of raw lacquer and tung oil. It is also known for its production of mao-tai liquormade from wheat and kaoliang (sorghum)which has won a number of international prizes. Mineral resources are rich in Kweichow. Metallic minerals include mercury, manganese, zinc, lead, antimony, aluminum, copper, iron, and gold. Nonmetallics are coal, petroleum, oil-shale, phosphate, gypsum, arsenic, limestone, and fluorite. Consequently, mining industries are important in the province. Other industries include iron and steel, machinery manufacture, cement, food processing, leather, production of silk and cotton textiles, and chemical fertilizers, soda acid, and other chemicals. Kweichow has well-developed highway transportation and a growing railroad network. River transportation is of little importance owing to ubiquitous reefs and rapids. Area 67,200 square miles (174,000 square km). Pop. (1993 est.) 33,610,000. Chinese (Wade-Giles) Kuei-chou, (Pinyin) Guizhou, sheng (province) of southwestern China. It is bounded on the north by Szechwan, on the east by Hunan, on the south by the Chuang Autonomous Region of Kwangsi, and on the west by Yunnan. Kweichow measures more than 350 miles (560 kilometres) from east to west and about 320 miles from north to south. It has an area of 68,000 square miles (176,100 square kilometres). The provincial capital is centrally located at Kuei-yang. Kweichow has the frontier character of other southwestern plateau lands: rough topography, difficult communication and consequent isolation, and many ethnic minority groups. It has long been considered one of China's poorest and most disadvantaged provinces, as characterized by the folk poem: The sky is not three days clear; the land is not level for three li (2,115 feet, or 645 metres); the people don't have three cents. History Although the area has been known to the Chinese since time immemorial, Kweichow came under large-scale Chinese influence only in the modern era, particularly during the Ming dynasty (13681644), when it was made a province. The colonization policy of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties encouraged a large number of Chinese immigrants from Hunan, Kiangsi, and Szechwan to move into the eastern, northern, and central parts of Kweichow. During the Ch'ing dynasty (16441911/12), when the government decided to replace local chiefs by officials appointed by the central government, struggles broke out between the minorities, especially the Miao, and the Han. Rebellions and suppressions were so common that there was a saying, a riot every 30 years and a major rebellion every 60 years. In 1726 at the Battle of Mount Lei-kung, more than 10,000 Miao were beheaded and more than 400,000 starved to death. The Pan-chiang Riot of 1797 was said to have been started by the Puyi people, and thousands of them were either burned to death or beheaded. The most important popular revolt against the central government was one led by Chang Hsiu-mei, a Miao, in 1854. He and his followers united with the Taiping revolutionaries, and the joint army with a centralized command that was organized soon controlled eastern and southern Kweichow and won numerous victories under the Miao leaders Yen Ta-wu and Pa Ta-tu. When the Miao were eventually defeated in 1871, however, countless numbers of them were massacred. The most recent revolt, known as the Ch'ien Tung (eastern Kweichow) Incident, occurred between 1941 and 1944 as a result of exploitation and suppression by the warlord Wu T'ing-chang. Bitter struggles between the Miao and Wu's armies went on until 1944. Chi-Keung Leung Robert Lee Suettinger