Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau

The Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau or Yungui Plateau (simplified Chinese: 云贵高原; traditional Chinese: 雲貴高原; pinyin: Yúnguì Gāoyuán) is a highland region located in southwest China. The region is primarily spread over the provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou. In the southwest, the Yungui is a true plateau with relatively flatter highland areas, while in the northeast, the Yungui is a generally mountainous area of rolling hills, gorges, and karst topography.

Geography

Definition

Under the strictest definition, the Yungui Plateau stretches from the Red River Fault in Yunnan in the southwest to the Wuling Mountains in Hunan in the northeast. This plateau region includes most of eastern Yunnan and most of Guizhou. It is common, however, for much of the rest of Yunnan and surrounding highland areas to be referred to as part of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau even where there are no plateau-like characteristics.

Under the broader definition of the Yungui Plateau, the provinces would include not only Yunnan and Guizhou but also Gulin County and the southernmost extremes of Sichuan, eastern Chongqing, southwestern Hubei, western Hunan, and northwestern Guangxi.

Human geography

Located in Southwest China, the Yungui Plateau separates the Sichuan Basin from South China. The area has long been considered a backwater region of China. Historically, the plateau has been home to many minority peoples who have traditionally engaged in intensive agriculture along hills and in valleys.