Economy

Guiyang's GDP: ¥ 249 billion (2014)Income per capita: ¥24,961 per year, per person (2014)Unemployment rate: less than 4%Guiyang is the economic and commercial hub of Guizhou Province. The GDP per capita was ¥46,108 (US$7445) in 2013. The city is also a large center for retail and wholesale commercial activities with operations of major domestic and international general retailers such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, RT-Mart, Beijing Hualian (北京华联), Parkson, and Xingli Group (星力集团) as well as consumer electronics and appliance sellers Gome and Suning. Wholesale operations include large regional produce, furniture, and industrial and construction machinery depots. Wal-Mart's southwest China regional vegetable and produce distribution center is located in Guiyang. There are many foreign brands implanted in Guiyang, such as McDonald, Burger King, H&M, or Starbucks. Most of the time, they are located near the various shopping centers. The largest shopping centers are Hunter city plaza (亨特城市广场), Huaguoyuan Shopping Center (花果园购物中心), and Nanguohuajing (南国花锦).Hydro-electric power generators are located along the city's main rivers including the Wu River. By 2007, the city's hydro electric plants supplied over 70 percent of the city's electricity. Coal is mined in the locality of Guiyang and Anshun, and there are large thermal generating plants at Guiyang and Duyun, supplying electricity for a portion of the city's industry. A large iron and steel plant came into production in Guiyang in 1960, supplying the local machinery-manufacturing industry.Guiyang has a sizable domestic pharmaceuticals industry, producing traditional Chinese as well as Western medicines.In 2016, Guiyang was named as the Best-Performing City in China by the Milken Institute owing to the city's "growth in jobs, wages, gross domestic product (GDP)." Guizhou Province province saw the third-fastest growth among China’s 31 regional districts in the first half of the year, growing by 10.5 percent. This growth is attributed to Guiyang's investments in computing and big data. Due to tax incentives and state support, multinational corporations such as Foxconn, Microsoft, Huawei, Hyundai Motor, Tencent, Qualcomm and Alibaba have opened offices in Guiyang.

Transport

Transportation in Guiyang consists of an extensive network of roads, railways, river and air transport as well as public transportation system with bus system and many taxis. Guiyang Urban Rail Transit has been constructed since 2011. Based on the current planning, the whole network is formed by the 8 lines. Line 1 will be operational in 2016.Air[edit]Guiyang is one of the important air transport hubs in Southwest China. Guiyang's main airport is the Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport (KWE) opened on May 28, 1997. It is located in east of Guiyang, 11 km (6.8 mi) away from the city center. The airport is connected to national and international destinations, such as Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul (Charter), Phuket (Charter), Singapore (Charter), Bangkok, Taichung & Taitung (Charter), Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu. In 2010, the airport handled 6.2717 million passengers.Railway[edit]Guiyang is a railway hub in southwest China. The Guizhou–Guangxi Railway (built in 1959, modified 2009), the Sichuan–Guizhou Railway (completed 1965), the Guiyang–Kunming Railway (completed 1970), and the Hunan–Guizhou Railway (completed 1975) are intersecting in Guiyang Railway Station. This main southern railway station is being rebuilt in 2008.As Guiyang–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway and Shanghai–Kunming High-Speed Railway began operations, the trip to most cites along the high-speed railways, excluded which in the northeast, from Guiyang has been feasible. The high speed railway lines will provide rapid freight service from two rail yards, and passenger service from a new high-speed railway station, called Guiyangbei Railway Station, in the city's Guanshanhu District. Besides, the high-speed rail lines to Chongqing will commence operations within the next few years.Expressway[edit]The city is located at the junction of four major segments of the national highway grid: the Gui–Huang, Gui–Zun, Gui–Bi, and Gui–Xin Expressways. The Gui-Huang Expressway (G60) links Guiyang with the cities and tourist areas of central and western Guizhou including Anshun, Guanling, and the Huangguoshu Waterfall. The expressway continues west to Yunnan Province as the Gui-Kun Expressway and terminates at Yunnan's capital city of Kunming. G75 Lanzhou–Haikou Expressway runs north 180 km (110 mi) to Zunyi and is the most heavily travelled major highway in Guiyang. In Zunyi, the expressway becomes the Zunyi-Chongqing Expressway and runs a further 210 km (130 mi) north to Chongqing. G76 Xiamen–Chengdu Expressway links Guiyang with the regional cities of Bijie and Dafang in northwest Guizhou province, southeastern Sichuan province, and the Sichuan cities of Luzhou, Neijiang, and Chengdu—Sichuan's provincial capital. The Gui–Bi Expressway begins at an interchange with the Gui–Zun Expressway in the city's Xiuwen County approximately 20 km (12 mi) north of the city center, before terminating at the city of Bijie. In the city of Dafang, approximately 40 km (25 mi) east of Bijie, the Gui–Bi Expressway connects with the new Sichuan–Guizhou Expressway, a modern highway providing access to Luzhou and central Sichuan. The Gui–Xin Expressway begins at the junction of the Guiyang Outer Ring Road (G75, G60.01) and the Tang Ba Guan Road, approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) southeast of the city center. The Gui–Xin Expressway (G60, G75) runs east and southeast through the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (G76), passing through Guilin, before entering Guangdong, and terminating at Guangzhou. Approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of Guiyang in the regional city of Kaili, the Hunan-Guizhou Expressway (G56, G60) links with the Gui–Xin Expressway providing high-speed vehicular access to and from Guiyang to the eastern Guizhou city of Tongren before continuing through Hunan to the major cities of Huaihua, Changde, and Changsha. The China National Highway 210 also runs through Guiyang via Xifeng and Longli.In 2009 Guiyang added a modern orbital expressway to its highway network. The Guiyang Outer Ring Road (Guiyang Orbital Highway) opened in December 2009 and is a six- to eight-lane divided high-speed expressway that provides efficient links to and from large employment centers in the Jinyang New District, Baiyun District, Huaxi District, the Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport, the major multi-lane national highways, and the city's main roadways, allowing vehicular traffic to circumnavigate the heavy traffic of the city's inner city areas.Transportation infrastructure of GuiyangPlatform 4 in Guiyang Station Interior of Guiyang Longdongpu International Airport 

Geography

The city's heart is around the Dashizi (大十字), a "big cross", and Penshuichi (喷水池, literally "Fountain Pool"), a traffic intersection, in the center of which there was a large fountain until early 2010, when it was paved over for better traffic.Climate[edit]Guiyang has a four-season, monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cwa), tempered by its low latitude and high elevation. It has cool winters and moderate-temperature summers; the majority of the year's 1,118 millimetres (44.0 in) of precipitation occurs from May to July. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from 5.1 °C (41.2 °F) in January to 23.9 °C (75.0 °F) in July, while the annual mean is 15.35 °C (59.6 °F). Rain is common throughout the year, with occasional flurries in winter. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 12 percent in January to 41 percent in August, the city receives only 1150 hours of sunshine, making it one of China's least sunny major cities. Average monthly relative humidity is consistently above 75% throughout the year. The moderate temperature together with other factors including air quality, wind speed, etc. made Guiyang to be ranked No.2 in the "Top 10 Summer Capitals of China".[6]

Demographics

Guiyang is populated by 23 different minorities, the most populous of which is the Miao people, in addition to the ethnic Han.As of 2011, the total population of Guiyang municipality was 4.3 million, among which 2.9 million were urban residents.

History

The map of "Koei-yang-fou" in Du Halde's 1736 Description of China.Guiyang was a 7th-century military outpost under the Sui and Tang, when the area around it was known as Juzhou (矩州). It grew into a city named Shunyuan (順元) under the Mongolian Yuan dynasty sometime between their 1279 southwestern campaigns and 1283. By the time Guizhou became a full province in 1413, its capital at Guiyang was also known as Guizhou. It became a prefectural seat under the Ming and Qing. Guiyang grew rapidly during the development of the southwest that occurred after the Japanese invasion of China during World War II. It has also grown rapidly since Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms reached it in the 1990s.