Population: 3,140,000

Area: 16,804 square kilometers (6,488 square miles)

Nationalities: Han, Buyi, Miao

Administrative Division: 7 counties (Xingren, Pu'an, Qinglong, Zhenfeng, Wangmo, Ceheng, Anlong); 1 county-level city (Xingyi)

Seat of the city government: No.22, Shajing Street, Xingyi City

Useful Telephone Numbers: 

Tourist Complaints: 0859-3116518

Weather Forecast: 121

Zip Code Inquiry: 184

Bank of China Xingyi Branch: No.1, Hehuatang Lane, Xingyi City

China Post Qianxinan Branch: No.10, Panjiang Road, Xingyi City

Location: Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture is located in the southeast of Guizhou Province, in neighborhood of Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The capital of the prefecture is seating in Xingyi City, which is over 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Guiyang and Kunming.

History: According to history records, this area was inhabited by several ethnic groups in southwestern China or governed by kingdoms they established in remote ages. The Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC) put it under the administration of Xiang Shire, and it returned to the Yelang State, an ancient ethnic regime in old Guizhou. It is partly belonged to the central government and Yelang in the following hundreds of years. After that, overlapping reigns on this area were changed between the central Chinese government and kingdoms set up by local ethnic groups.

Physical Features: Qianxinan stands in the slop area in southeast of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Its overall terrain slops downward from northwest to south east. Most part of the prefecture belonged to karst plateau, and Karst terrain occupies over seventy percent of its territory. Hilly area is in the second place, occupying a coverage of twenty percent.

Climatic Features: The prefecture enjoys a subtropical monsoon climate. Weather in this area is temperate and humid all the year round. Xingyi City is reputed as the 'Lesser Spring City'. As to the whole prefecture, the annual average temperature of January falls between 4.4 and 9.7 degree centigrade (40-49.5 degree Fahrenheit), and that of July remains between 21 and 26 degrees centigrade (69.8-78.8 degrees Fahrenheit). The rainy season usually lasts from May to September.

When to Go: in spring, summer and autumn

Local Highlights: Ethnic minorities occupy over forty percent of the prefecture's total population. Among these multitude of ethnic groups, Bouyei and Miao are the largest. Strong flavor of the ethnic minorities should be the most charming factor of Qianxinan.

Miao Folk-Custom Festival (around the eighth day of the eighth lunar month in Xingren County)

Buyi Folk-Custom Festival (around the sixth day of the sixth lunar month in Zhenfeng County)

Special Local Products: ornamental stone, garment accessories of Buyi ethnic minority.