Qujing

Qujing (Chinese: 曲靖; pinyin: Qūjìng) is a prefecture-level city in the east of Yunnan province, China, bordering Guizhou province to the north and east and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to the south; thus, it was called "Key between Yunnan and Guizhou" (滇黔锁钥) and "Throat of Yunnan" (云南咽喉) in the past. It is part of the Central Yunnan Metropolitan Region plan (滇中城市群规划) in effect for 2016–49. Its administrative population is 6,047,000 according to a 2015 estimate, of whom, 1,408,500 reside in the metro area, which contains Qilin District, Zhanyi District and Malong District. The city's resident population at the end of 2024 is 5.634 million. During the 11th National Five-Year Plan period, the government of Qujing planned to develop the city into the "big city at the origin of the Pearl River" (珠江源大城市) in the following decades, including increasing the built-up urban area to past 100 km2 (39 sq mi) and the urban population to surpass 1 million by 2020, the second in Yunnan, after Kunming.