Geography

Guiyang has grown exponentially since the 1990s. The city's heart is around the ´óÊ®×Ö (literally "Big Ten") which is a cross, resembling the Chinese character for ten, and ÅçË®³Ø (literally "Fountain Pool") which is a traffic intersection which had a large fountain at its center, until the fountain was paved over in early 2010 to help improve the flow of traffic.

The city is situated on the Nanming River, a headstream of the Wu River, which eventually joins the Yangtze River at Fuling in Sichuan province. Guiyang is a natural transportation center, with comparatively easy access northward to Sichuan, eastward to Guangxi and Guangdong, westward to Yunnan, and northeast to Hunan province.

Climate

Guiyang has a four-season, humid subtropical climate, tempered by its low latitude and high elevation. It has fairly mild winters, warm summers and a monsoon season, where the majority of the year's 1,120 millimetres(44in) of precipitation falls. The mean temperature in January is 5.1C(41.2F) and for July 23.9C(75.0F).Rain falls throughout the year, with occasional flurries in winter. The seasons are not particularly distinct, with frequent unseasonable cold or warm spells. However, extremes of heat and cold seldom occur with temperatures rarely exceeding 34C or dropping below -3C.At only 1150hours of sunshine, it is also one of China's least sunny cities. Relative humidity is consistent throughout the year.

Demographics

Guiyang is populated by 23 different minorities, the most populous of which is the Miao people, in addition to the ethnic Han.

As of 2008,the total population of Guiyang municipality was 3.93million, among which 2.72 million were urban residents

Religion

On October 15, 1696, the city was made the seat of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Kweichow. This was suppressed in 1715 and restored in 1846. In 1924 it was renamed as the Apostolic Vicariate of Guiyang, and in 1946 it was promoted to its current status as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guiyang.