With a history dating back to more than 2,300 years ago, Guangyuan has been nurturing the outstanding people there. Guangyuan once was the capital city of Ju Kingdom in Spring & Autumn Period, and it was called Lizhou in West Wei Dynasty. Then the name was changed into Guangyuanlu under the reign of Emperor Yuanshizu in Yuan Dynasty, meaning “moral and might can be widely spread within the vast land”, and that is how it got its present name Guangyuan. Wu Zetian, the only woman emperor in Chinese history and the outstanding politician in feudal period, was born and brought up in Guangyuan.
The majority of population in Guangyuan is Han nationality, the others 22 minority nationalities scattering in the region include Hui, Man, Tibetan, Tujia, Qiang, Mongolian, Miao, Zhuang and Buyi Nationalities, with a population adding up to 13,000 in total, among which the population of Dayuan and Gaoxi Villages in Qingchuan County and in 8 nationality villages count more than 1,000.
Being the transportation hub in the confluence of Sichuan, Shanxi and Gansu Provinces, the transportation in Guangyuan is very convenient with swift communication facilities forming both water and land conveyance network. Baocheng Railway boarders Shanxi in the north and Chengmian Expressway in the south; 108 and 212 Highways as well as Chengguang Expressway intersect there; Guangyuan Airport has many airlines opened, and the waterway in Jiangling River is an important transportation mean in Guangyuan with which ships can directly reach Chongqing, sail to Yangtze River. Since the communication industry develops fast and post conveyance is advanced and convenient, the automatic controls of telephone in both urban and rural areas as well as direct long domestic and international distance call are available, and the Mobile communication network covering the whole city has been established.
The public festivals and activities in Guangyuan are various and colorful, including Guangyuan Girls’ Festival, Cangxi’s Pear Flowers Festival, Peach Blossom Festival in Center District, Sweet-scented Osmanthus Festival in Yuanba, Tofu Cultural and Touring Festival in Jiangmenguan, Panda Wild Vegetable and Mushroom Festival in Qingchuan, the Temple Fairs in Niutou Mountain and Tiantai Mountain, etc, all of which are with grand scale and varied forms.