Guangxi:
 

Guangxi (Chinese: 广西; pinyin: Guăngxī; Wade–Giles: Kuang-hsi; pronounced [tɕʰíŋxàɪ])pronounced [kwɑ̀ŋɕí]), officially Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of southern China along its border with Vietnam. Formerly a province, Guangxi became an autonomous region in 1958.
 
Guangxi's location, in mountainous terrain in the far south of China, has placed it on the frontier of Chinese civilization throughout much of China's history. The current name "Guang" means "expanse" and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. It was given provincial level status during the Yuan Dynasty, but even into the 20th century it was considered an open, wild territory.
 
The abbreviation of the province is "桂" (Pinyin: Guì; Zhuang: Gvei), which comes from the city of Guilin, the former capital, center of much of Guangxi's culture, politics, and history, and currently a major city in the autonomous region.

Important crops in Guangxi include rice, maize, sweet potatoes, and wheat. Cash crops include sugar cane, peanuts, tobacco, and kenaf.
 
85% of the world's star anise is grown in Guangxi. It is a major ingredient in the antiviral Tamiflu.
 
Guangxi is one of China's key production centers for nonferrous metals. The province holds approximately 1/3 of all tin and manganese deposits in China.

Liuzhou is the main industrial center and is a major motor vehicle manufacturing center. General Motors have a manufacturing base here in a joint venture as SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile. The city also has a large steel factory and several related industries. The local government of Guangxi hopes to expand the province's manufacturing sector, and during the drafting of China's Five Year Plan in 2011, earmarked 2.6 trillion RMB for investment in the province's Beibu Gulf Economic Zone(See Below).
 
In recent years Guangxi's economy has languished behind that of its wealthy neighbor and twin, Guangdong. Guangxi's 2011 nominal GDP was about 1171.4 billion yuan (US$185.9 billion) and ranked 18th in China. Its per capita GDP was 15,800 yuan (US$2,300).
 
Due to its lack of a major manufacturing industry in comparison to other provinces, Guangxi is the fourth most energy efficient province in China, helping to further boost its green image.
 
 Economic and Technological Development Zones
 Beihai Silver Beach National Tourist Holiday Resort
 Beihai Export Processing Zone
 
Approved by the State Council, Beihai Export Processing Zone (BHEPZ) was established in March 2003. Total planned area is 1.454 square kilometers. The first phase of developed area is 1.135 square kilometers. It was verified and accepted by Customs General Administration and eight ministries of the state, on December 26, 2003. It is the Export Processing Zone nearest to ASEAN in China and also the only one bordering the sea in western China. It is situated next to Beihai Port.

 Dongxing Border Economic Cooperation Area

 Guilin National New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
 
Guilin Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone was established in May 1988. In 1991, it was approved as a national-level industrial zone. It has an area of 12.07 Square Kilometers. Encouraged industries include electronic information, biomedical, new materials and environmental protection.

 Nanning Economic & Technological Development Area
 
Established in 1992, Nanning Economic and Technological Development Zone was approved to be a national level zone in May 2001. Its total planned area of 10.796 square kilometers. It is located in the south of Nanning. It has become the new developing zone with fine chemical engineering, auto parts, aluminum processing, biological medicine and other industries.
 Nanning National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
 
Nanning Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone was established in 1988 and was approved as a national-level industrial zone in 1992. The zone has a planned area of 43.7 Square Kilometers, and it encourages industries that do electronic information, bioengineering and pharmaceutical, mechanical and electrical integration and new materials industry.

 Pingxiang Border Economic Cooperation Zone
 
In 1992, Pinxiang Border Economic Cooperation Zone was established. It has a total area of 7.2 Square Kilometers. It focuses on development of hardware mechanical and electrical products, daily-use chemical processing, the services, and international logistics-based storage and information industry.

 Yongning Economic Development Zone