Guangxi

Guangxi (formerly romanised as Kwangsi), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), 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 in Pinyin Guì or Zhuang or 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.