Liangguang

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The provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, c. 1900. Note that a western part of Guangdong south of Guangxi in this map has since been given to Guangxi to give it access to the sea by the People's Republic of China in 1952 and 1965, although it is not recognized by the Republic of China.

Liangguang (Liangkwang; simplified Chinese: 两广; traditional Chinese: 兩廣; pinyin: Liǎngguǎng; Cantonese Yale: loeng gwong; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lióng-kńg; literally "Two Guangs"/"Two Kwangs", also spelled Liang-guang) is a term referring to the province of Guangdong and autonomous region (formerly province) of Guangxi on the southern coast of China. Before 1988, Guangdong province also included what is now the province of Hainan.

History

The names of the two entities form a pair, as they literally mean "Guang-East" and "Guang-West". "Guang" itself means "expanse" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture (Guangzhou) in AD 226. During the Qing Dynasty, the office of the Governor-General of Liangguang existed from 1735 to 1911 to oversee both provinces.

Guangxi autonomy

In the 1920s and 1930s, the areas of Guangxi province dominated by Zhuang people greatly aided the Communist Party of China in the Chinese Civil War.[1] Soon after the Communist victory in 1949, in 1952 the People's Republic of China created a Zhuang autonomous prefecture in the western half of Guangxi province. In 1958, the entire province was redesignated an autonomous region for the Zhuang.[2] However, most Western scholars of the Zhuang do not believe that this decision came out of genuine grassroots demands from that ethnic group,[3] who in any case were thoroughly assimilated with the Han Chinese[2] and made up only 33% of the province's population.[4] Instead, scholars like George Moseley and Diana Lary argue that the conversion of Guangxi to a Zhuang autonomous region was designed to foil local Han Chinese sentiment against the Communist Party, as well as to smash pan-Lingnan sentiment from the Cantonese people.[3] Shortly afterward many Cantonese in the Guangxi government were replaced by Zhuangs, and in 1952 Guangxi annexed the Nanlu region of Guangdong, giving the formerly landlocked region access to the sea.[3]

Hainan separation

In 1988, the island of Hainan was separated from Guangdong province and established as a separate province.

References

  1. ↑ Olson, James Stuart (1998). "Zhuang". An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 393. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hutchings, Graham (2003). "Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region". Modern China: A Guide to a Century of Change. Harvard University Press. p. 173. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Kaup, Katherine Palmer (2000). Creating the Zhuang: Ethnic Politics in China. Lynne Reinner Publishers. p. 52. 
  4. ↑ Ramsey, Samuel Robert (1987). "Minority Languages of China". The Languages of China. Princeton University Press. pp. 234–235. 

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