Guizhou province is called "Qian" or "Gui" for its short forms. Located on the eastern slope of Yunnan--Guizhou Plateau, Guizhou borders provinces (region and municipality) of Hunan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan and Chongqing to the east, south, west, and north respectively. The province becomes an important access to the sea and a transportation hub for Southwest China.

Guizhou was under Chinese control during the Han Dynasty and well known by the Chinese for thousands of years but it was not until the Ming dynasty that it came under heavy Chinese settlement and domination during which it was made a province. This prompted mass migration from Sichuan, Hunan and its surrounding provinces into Guizhou.

There are many ethnic groups in the province with a population of 39,310,000. 49 ethnic groups are living in Guizhou, 17 of whom are ethnic minorities and have lived here for generations. Ten ethnic groups of Han, Miao, Bouyei, Dong, Tujia, Yi, Gelao, Shui, Hui and Bai have a population of over 100,000 respectively. The population of ethnic minorities account for 36.77% of the provincial total, ranking third in China.

Guizhou is also a province rich in tourism resource. More than 1000 natural places with commercial value and over 1000 villages for development of rural tourism scatter all over the province. At present, there are 12 national-level scenic areas like the Huangguoshu Waterfall and the Dragon Palace, and 57 provincial-level scenic spots such as Huaxi and Baihua Lake. 7 national nature reserves include Mount Fanjing and Caohai and 15 provincial nature reserves such as Kuankuoshui and Mount Leigongshan. Cultural relics at national level are 19, for instance, the original site of Zunyi Meeting and Qinglong Cave. 285 are cultural relics at provincial level, for instance, pictographs on the Red Rock and the Longevity Palace in Shiqian County. There are 11 national forest parks in the province, the Bamboo Sea in Chishui City and the Azalea Forest, to mention a few. The number of national geo-parks is four including Guanling biota and Shuanghe Cave in Shuiyang County. Guiyang, Duyun and Kaili have been selected as the nice Chinese cities for tourism. 491 scenic spots have already been open and on the list of tourism plan, of which 79 belong to Class A, 191 Class B and 221 Class C or below, according to the practical international classifications and assessment standards. Six comprehensive tourism areas in Guiyang, Anshun, Kaili--Zhenyuan, Liping--Congjiang--Rongjiang, Libo, Xingyi--Anlong and six specialty tourism areas of Mount Fanjing, Zunyi, Chishui--Xishui--Renhuai, Zhijin--Qianxi, Weining--Liupanshui, Wujiang Gorges have been formed. Such typical cultural brands as plateau karst ecology, tree fern ecology, Miao and Dong culture ecology, ethnic culture, ancient military castle culture, Long March culture, state liquor culture, Yangming culture, cave culture and Yelang culture have been promoted. The rural tourism characterized by local custom experience is put into the scheme and under its development.

Guizhou is the home of the Moutai Distillery, distillers of Maotai liquor, China's most famous alcoholic beverage. The Chinese name of the distillery is Zhongguo Guizhou Maotai Jiuchang.