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Guizhou

Submitted by mhabich on

Guizhou is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the southwestern part of the country. Its provincial capital city is Guiyang.

During the Chinese Han Dynasty from about the third to the first centuries BCE, Guizhou was home to the powerful and independent Yelang polity, which covered parts of modern day Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

During the 8th and 9th centuries in the Tang Dynasty, Chinese soldiers moved into Guizhou (Kweichow) and married native women, their descendants are known as Lao-han-jen (original Chinese), in contrast to new chinese who colonized Guizhou at later times. They still speak an archaic dialect. Many immigrants to Guizhou were descended from these soldiers in garrisons who married non Chinese women.

It was not until the Ming Dynasty that it came under heavy Chinese settlement and domination during which it was made a province. This prompted mass migration from Sichuan, Hunan and its surrounding provinces into Guizhou. The Miao revolted several times against Ming during the Miao Rebellions (Ming Dynasty).

During the Qing Dynasty, Han Chinese soldiers moved into the Taijiang region of Guozhou, married Miao women, and the children were brought up as Miao.

Many rebellions by its native Miao people occurred throughout the Qing Dynasty like the rebelion in 1735, the uprising of 1795-1806 and the longest being the revolt of 1854-1873. It was said in the Qing Dynasty that every thirty years there would be minor revolts, while every sixty years there would be major rebellions. All the revolts would be violently suppressed by the government.

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