Guangxi
Guangxi (gwæŋˈʃiː, ; AUDGuangxi.ogggwang3.xi1; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; Gvangjsih), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang, Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, and Quảng Ninh Provinces) and the Gulf of Tonkin. Formerly a province, Guangxi became an autonomous region in 1958. Its current capital is Nanning. Guangxi's location, in mountainous terrain in the far south of China, has placed it on the frontier of Chinese civilization throughout much of Chinese 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 "" (Hanyu pinyin: ; Zhuang: Gvei), which comes from the name of the city of Guilin, the provincial capital during both the Ming dynasty and the Qing dynasty. Guangxi contains the largest population of China's ethnic minorities after Yunnan, in particular, the Zhuang people, who make up 32% of the population. Various regional languages and dialects such as Pinghua, Zhuang, Kam, Cantonese, Hakka, and Min are spoken alongside Mandarin Chinese. "Guǎng" () means 'expanse' or 'vast', and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. Guangxi and neighboring Guangdong literally mean 'expanse west' and 'expanse east'. Together, Guangxi and Guangdong are called Liangguang (Liangkwang; , Lưỡng Quảng). During the Song dynasty, the Two Guangs were formally separated as Guǎngnán Xīlù () and Guǎngnán Dōnglù (), which became abbreviated as Guǎngxī Lù () and Guǎngdōng Lù (). Originally inhabited by a mixture of tribal groups known to the Chinese as the Baiyue ("Hundred Yue", Bách Việt), the region first became part of China during the Qin dynasty. In 214 BC, the Han Chinese general Zhao Tuo (Triệu Đà) claimed most of southern China for Qin Shi Huang before the emperor's death.