GUIYANG lies in a valley basin right in the middle of the province it governs, encircled by a range of hills which hems in the city and concentrates its traffic polution. Established as a capital during the Ming dynasty, Guiyang received little attention until the early 1950s, when the new Communist government repaid minority groups for their tacit help during the civil war by filling the centre with heavy monuments and extending the provincial rail line to make the city a hub for western China. This encouraged investment, though wealth arrived only recently, accelerating Guiyang from a quiet conglomerate of tumbledown town houses to a web of wide roads and twentieth-century highrises comprising a busy downtown district. The result may not be one of China's most beautiful cities, but Guiyang is a friendly place, with a growing expat population and well-stocked shopping centres and market stalls.

Most visitors simply spend one night here in transit, though anyone planning to explore the province should seek out Guiyang's informative CITS office, and spend a couple of hours browsing through the Provincial Museum 's collection. There are also a scattering of temples and pavilions and several parks set within easy distance of the center.