The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, formerly Guangxi province, is situated in the southwest of China along the Gulf of Tonkin. In the southwest, it shares a border of 1020 km with Vietnam. In the northwest, it borders on Yunnan, in the northeast on Hunan, and in the southeast on Guangdong. In 1958, it was granted the special status of an autonomous region owing to its high proportion of national minorities. Important cities include the capital Nanning, the industrial cities of L…