1. Name: Guizhou Province
2. Areas: 170,000 square kilometers
3. Population: 36,631,000 ( the total number of permanent residents by the end of 1997)
4. Capital: Guiyang City
5. Geography: It is located in the northeaster part of the Yungui Plateau, which is situated in the southwest of China. It is within the middle sub-tropical zone sharing border with the provinces of Sichuan, Hunan, Yunnan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Guizhou has waves of mountains of various sizes and complex landforms and topography. Its climate varies from place to place and the natural landscape is unique. With its warm weather and sufficient amount of precipitation, Guizhou is a mountainous area typical in the sub-tropical plateau zone.
6. Natural Resources: The arable land in Guizhou Province totals more than 28 million mu. The arable land per capita is only 0.8 mu. The land for grain produce accounts for three fourths of the total arable land. Guizhou is rich in forest resources. The production of some famous forestry products ranks high on the list of provinces in China. Guizhou also boasts of its rich deposit in minerals, water resources and wildlife. It has unique natural landscape such as the well-known Yellow Fruit Tree Waterfall and the nearby Limestone Cave and the Stone Woods, constituting its exclusive tourism resources.
7. Economy: The GDP in 1997 totaled RMB 79.298 billion with per capita GDP being RMB 2,215. The total industrial output is RMB 71.511 billion and the total output of agriculture, forestry and fishery RMB 41.754 billion. The total revenue amounted to RMB 5.787 billion. The total output of grain amounted to 10.259 million tons with the average per capita grain being only 287 kilograms. Apart from its uneven topography, landlocked situation, difficult traffic access, late development of its economy and weak agricultural base, the big size of the population especially the big proportion of the poor population becomes another constraining factor in the social and economic development of Guizhou Province.
8. Population's Life: As per statistics by the end of 1997, the labor population in the province is 22.392 million, accounting for 61.13% of the total population. The employed population is 19.767 million with the utilization rate of labor resource being 88.28%. The total amount of pay in 1997 to the employees was RMB 52.06 million. 23.159 billion with average per capita annual pay being RMB 8,239. The disposable income of urban population was RMB 4,442 and the average per capita real income for rural population is RMB 1,298. The average saving per person for urban population is RMB 1,013. The average expenditure per person in urban and rural areas is RMB 3,722 and RMB 1,138 respectively. On average, there are 16 hospital beds and 12 medical staff for every 10,000 people.
9. Education: By 1997, there were 20 high education institutions with 38,472 students and 5,699 teachers. It has 2,325 medium education institutions with 1,494,558 students at school and 87,873 teachers, and 19,103 primary schools with 5,038,200 pupils and 168,493 teachers. The general feature of change in terms of the education for the population in Guizhou is that the percentage of educated population of different level is increasing year by year while that of the illiterate and semi-illiterate population is declining. The prevalence of nine-year compulsory has reached 23.3%. There has been some development in adult education.

Guizhou Province has multi ethnic groups. Among the total population of 36,631million in 1997, excluding that for the Han nationality, the population for ethnic groups is above 10 million, 35% of the total population. It is one of the three provinces in China with more than 10 million population of ethnic groups. The total population of Guizhou ranks in the middle in China. Its population density is, however, above the national average and tends to climb higher each year. The geographical distribution of population is uneven and the population density varies. The difference in population distribution between urban and rural area is also big and the population distribution by geographical areas varies greatly. Generally speaking, the population density in the central part of Guizhou is bigger. The population is distributed evenly by areas while the population distribution as a whole shows the concentration in some parts of the province.

Before the foundation of the PR.China, the population in Guizhou grew very slowly. From 1949 to 1997, the growth rate of population became faster and there were several baby booms leading to the increasing population base. In terms of the change in the total population, there could be the following four stages. The first stage is from 1949 to 1958 when the population grew in a steady manner from 14.164 million to 17.1002 million with an annual increase of 2.1%. The second stage between 1959 and 1961 saw a negative growth of population and a decrease in population of 1.2043 million. The third stage covers the period from 1962 to 1975, the second baby boom since the foundation of the PR. China with the largest number of annual growth and the highest annual growth rate. The fourth stage began from 1976 till today during which period, with the implementation of the comprehensive family planning program, the population growth rate started to decrease gradually. The population reproduction in Guizhou is in a transitory or primary stage where it evolves from the traditional pattern of high birth, low mortality and high growth to the modern pattern of low birth, low mortality and low growth.

From 1949 up to now, the general sex ratio shows an increasing trend. In 1990's, it has been stabilized around 107.3:100 due in large part to the difference of mortality rate between male and female and the factor of migrant population. The sex ration varies from urban to rural areas.

In 1997, in the total population of 36.631 million, the 0-14 group has the population of 10.722 million, taking up 29.27% of the total population. The 15-64 group 23.86 million, accounting for 65.14% and the 65 and above group has the population of 2.049 million, constituting 5.59% of the total population. The overall dependence coefficient is 53.52% with the children dependence coefficient being 44.94% and the elderly dependence coefficient being 8.59%.

From 1980's up to now, the birth rate of Guizhou Province went through the process from rise to fall and it varies by areas. The total fertility rate is falling, but is ranking in the middle in China. In addition, within the province, the total fertility rate of ethnic women is higher than that of women of Han nationality. In general, the reproduction patter of women in Guizhou lags behind the national average pattern. In 1997, the birth rate of Guizhou is 2.215% and the natural population growth rate is 1.448%.

The census of China in 1990 shows that the total fertility rate of women at reproductive age is 3.02. If it remains at this level, the total population in Guizhou by the end of 2000 will reach 39.6969 million, far more than the goal of 38.10 million. Besides, the high, medium and low projection all indicate the large scale of births by the end of this century. In whatever projection, the total population is still growing in this century. The population growth ranges from 5.1 to 6.6 million. In the first 30 years of next century, the increased additional population is between 8.43 to 16.47 million and the growth rate will slow down. As a whole, the natural increase rate of population is on the decline.

Prior to the foundation of the PR. China, the mortality rate in Guizhou was very high. That in 1938 was as high as 2.94%. The mortality rate fell from 1.567% in the early years after the liberation to 0.753% in 1990. From 1949 to 1979, the average annual died population is 270,400. The size of died population is much different from period to period. Since it entered 80's, the mortality rate of Guizhou has been low steadily for a long time. The mortality rate of ethnic groups is higher than that of Han nationality. In 1997, the mortality rate in Guizhou is 0.767%.

The life expectancy at birth for male in Guizhou in 1935 is 34.85 years and female 34.65 years. In 1959, that grew to 49.57 years and 42.42 years respectively. In the first ten years after the foundation of the PR. China, the life expectancy at birth of Guizhou population increased by more than 10 years with an increase of more than one year in each year. Since 1980's, the average life expectancy at birth for male has risen to 61.07 years and 61.55 years for female. The 1990 census shows that the two figures increased to 64.63 and 66.19 respectively.

The fourth census shows the unmarried population accounts for 28.78% of the population of the group 15 and above. The percentage of unmarried female population is smaller than that for male. The divorce rate for male is higher than that for female. The percentage of unmarried population in each age group becomes smaller as the age becomes older. The percentage of married population becomes bigger as the age turns older and reaches the highest in the group of 35-39 years, and begins to decline. The percentage of widowed population in each age group becomes larger when the group turns older. The percentage of divorced population is highest among the middle aged population. The more educated the population is the bigger the percentage of its divorced population. Moreover, the marital status of the population varies from area to area and from urban to rural area. In 1997, among the 25.909 million population of the 15 and above group, the male population was 13.517 million and the female 12.292 million. The unmarried men numbered 3.72 million and the unmarried women 2.18 million. Men of the first marriage having spouses totaled 8.807 million and women 8.977 million. The number of men of the non-first marriage having spouses was 0.276 million and women 0.249 million. There were 134,000 divorced men and 79, 000 divorced women. Widowed men totaled 580,000 and widowed women 907,000.

The period between 1953 to 1982 witnessed the increase in the family scale of Guizhou, which began to shrink in 1982. It was 4.41 people per household. That in urban area is smaller than in rural area. However, the difference is diminishing. In recent years, although the family scale has decreased quite substantially it is above the national average. The household in the province is characterized by the extended family with two generations living together with the rising proportion of the single generation family and decreasing proportion of the family with three and above generations living together. In 1997, the family scale of Guizhou is 3.99 people on the average.

The fourth census conducted in 1990 shows that the coefficient of the elderly population is as high as 7.07%. In comparison with the situation in 1982, the elderly population is increasing in both number and percentage. Compared with 1964, the population in Guizhou has transformed from young to adult pattern and it will take quite a long time to reach the aged pattern. It is estimated that by 2000, the elderly population will account for 8.29% of the total population and close to that of the aged population. By 2030, the elderly population will take the share of 16.37% of the total population. According to the 1990 census, among the elderly above 60, 32% of them are still in employment, of which male accounted for 63.07% and female 36.93%.

Before the foundation of the PR. China, the education, science and technology were at a relative low level. The situation has been improved substantially after the liberation. Since the 1980's, the population with high education has been growing fast while that of education of the medium level is growing slowly. The illiterate and semi illiterate population is decreasing. While the education level of women is growing rapidly, it is low as a whole and the gap between men and women, and urban and rural areas is still apparent. Currently, the educational development is still at a slow tempo, limiting the rapid improvement of the population well-being.

Due to the limited economic capacity and resources relative to its current population, the number of outflow migrants outstrips that of inflow migrants. Geographically speaking, both the outflow and inflow migrants are concentrated in the east of China, south of central China and southwest China. The migrants into Guizhou are mainly from rural areas of other provinces and they flow into urban areas in Guizhou. The migrants outward are mainly from rural areas in Guizhou. Their chief destinations are in rural areas in other provinces and next are urban areas outside Guizhou. Overall, the inter-province migration of Guizhou is mostly the movement of rural population. The inflow migrants are mainly engaged in business and commerce while most of the outflow migrants are for marital purposes. The large-scale migration as a whole, whatever inflow residents or outflow migrants, follows the rule of urbanization as reflected in the origin and destination of the migrants.

With its large population, narrow land, high population density and small arable land per capita, the conflict between people and land is intensifying. Despite the high per capita water resources, water energy and various minerals, the actual per capita ownership of resources is low due to the limited development and application of those resources. The relation of population against natural resources is characterized by the following features: insufficiency of economic resources, relatively too large population and over stretched economic capacity as opposed to population. In addition, given the vulnerable ecological environment in Guizhou, the frequent activities of the population have caused decrease of natural forests, reduction in resources and environmental quality, loss of soil because of the over cultivation of land and pollution by three industrial wastes of the environment, worsening the damage by mankind to the environment.

11. Ethnic Population

Guizhou is a province where multi ethnic groups are concentrated. As per the 1990 census, there are altogether 49 ethnic groups. Excluding the Han nationality, the total population of all ethnic groups reached 11.2423 million, accounting for 34.71% of the total population. The ethnic groups in Guizhou live far apart from each other and are scattered in wide areas. Many ethnic groups are mixed living and some ethnic groups are concentrated in small areas. The distribution of ethnic population in urban and rural areas is even to some extent. The sex ration among ethnic groups is higher. The age structure of population has been of adult pattern while the reproductive pattern still shows increase. The overall education level of the ethnic groups is low and the social and economic development of the ethnical area is relatively lagging behind.

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