PingxiangWade-Giles romanization P’ing-hsiangcity, Pinyin Pingxiang, city in southwestern Kwangsi Chuang autonomous regionsouthwestern Zhuang Autonomous Region of Guangxi, China. The city is situated on the border with Vietnam. It was founded as a military outpost under the name P’ing-hsiang Pingxiang during the Sung Song dynasty (960–1279), and under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) it became a county and later a prefecture. It was, however, little more than an administrative outpost among non-Chinese tribesmen. The Ch’ing tribal peoples. During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12) it was made it a subprefecture. P’ing-hsiang’s modern growth stemmed from the railway from Nan-ningBecause of Pingxiang’s strategic location, it often has been a major battlefield.

Pingxiang’s modern growth dates to the arrival of a railway from Nanning (Guangxi’s capital), which provides a through route from central China to Vietnam, crossing . The line crosses the border a few miles to the south at Yu-i-kuanshort distance south of Pingxiang at Youyiguan. Construction of this the line was begun in 1938 by the French, who completed it as far as Ning-mingNingming; but, following the Japanese occupation of Nan-ningNanning, work was abandoned in 1943–44, and much of the track was dismantled. The line was completed in 1951 and linked with the Vietnamese rail system in 1955. After this, P’ing-hsiang Pingxiang rapidly grew into a commercial centre for international trade with Vietnam; it also developed some small-scale industries. A considerable part of Sino-Vietnamese trade passes through P’ing-hsiang Pingxiang because the rail link there is superior to the an older line that runs through Yunnan province to the west and because it also provides a direct route to Wu-han Wuhan (Hubei) as well as connections to Kweichow Guizhou and Szechwan Sichuan provinces and to the Guangzhou (Canton) area of Guangdong province. Since the late 1980s the border trade in Pingxiang has been expanding rapidly, which has sparked steady economic and population growth in the region. Pop. (mid-1980s 2005 est.) 10100,000–50,000.