a province of China, situated on the southwestern frontier, and bordering on Tonquin. The country is flat in the eastern districts, which are fertile, and yield rice not only for internal consumption, but also for export to the neighbouring provinces. The remaining part of the province consists of lofty mountains covered with extensive forests. These mountains are rich in mineral wealth, containing mines of gold, silver, copper, and tin, the working of which, according to the narrow maxims of Chinese policy, was for a long time prohibited, but at last permitted under the burden of paying forty per cent. to the emperor. This, however, was with the exception of the gold-mines, which the emperor retained in his own hands. The population is estimated by Sir George Staunton at 10,000,000. The capital is Queling or Kowuling.