High-tech center rises in Guizhou's mountains By LEI XIAOXUN,YANG JUN and WANG XIAOYU in Guiyang | China Daily | Updated: 2021-01-25 10:05 File photo shows a visitor tours a display center of the National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Area in Southwest China's Guizhou province, May 22, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua] A rags-to-riches story is always riveting, and when the main character is a province with 36 million people from 18 ethnic groups, the tale is all the more inspirational. Guizhou province, once a byword for a landlocked location and backward development, has transformed into Western China's big data hub. Few foresaw this development. Less than a decade ago, more than one in four Guizhou residents was classified as impoverished. The factors that constrained economic development for decades－mountainous terrain that obstructed interregional connectivity, distance from trade ports and a lack of local talent－seemed insurmountable.