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Nanning
is the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southwest China. It
is the center of the Zhuang culture, China’s largest minority at well
over 15 million people.
The city has been closely involved in relationships with
neighboring Vietnam, both positive and negative, and now has an open
border with Vietnam. Now a prosperous industrial city, its mild climate
allows a year-round growing season for rice, sugar-cane, and subtropical
fruits such as mangos and lychees.
Nanning
was the political and military center of southwestern China some 1,600
years ago, when it was beyond the control of the Chinese empire. It
received its present name during the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) when it
was first subjugated by the Mongols.
Nanning was a medium-sized market town until the early twentieth
century, when European traders opened a river route from Wuzhou on the
eastern border with Guangdong. It developed rapidly as a trans-shipment
post for arms and supplies to Vietnam during the Vietnam War years,
along the Nanning-Hanoi rail line. Since
the 1990’s the resumption of cross-border traffic has made Nanning the
center of the regional trading relationships with
Vietnam.
Nanning
is the center of the Zhuang minority culture, and its population is more
than 63% Zhuang. The Zhuang are strongly assimilated into Han Chinese
culture however, with some remnant customs such as the Longboat (Dragon
Boat) races held on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month (around the
beginning of June). The
Miao, Yao, and Dong minority cultures were more independent, and the
Miao and Yao remained in the hill regions of the province in the 19th
century, with several uprisings that were forcefully suppressed by the
Han Chinese authorities. The Miao and Dong are noted for their
traditions of silver jewelry.
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