One of the five autonomous regions of China, Guangxi Zhuang is located in the south of the country, on the border with Vietnam. Historically, it is the most connected with China among the autonomies. In 1952, the Guishi-Zhuang Autonomous Region was established in the central and western part of Guangxi Province; then in 1958, the entire territory was transformed into a modern GZAR. Economically, Guangxi Zhuang is below the average country level by GRP per capita, despite the fact that it has the largest bauxite deposit in the country.
GZAR has a multi-ethnic structure. The titular group is Zhuang; it comprises slightly more than 30% of the regional population. The autonomy is dominated by Han (about 60% of the population). Also, there are a lot of other peoples in the GZAR : Yao, Miao, Tung, Lao, Hui, Bui, etc.
The Zhuang have both linguistic and religious differences from the Han people. The Zhuang language, which is part of the Tai-Kadai language group, according to various estimates, belongs either to the Sino-Tibetan language family or the Austronesian languages. At the same time, there is a view that the Zhuang does not constitute a single coherent language. By faith, the Zhuang people are mostly the Moists, that is, the adherents of the traditional belief called Zhuang Shigongism.
