Wheat, corn, sweet potatoes, peanuts, tropical and subtropical fruit, sesame, rapeseed, jute, and tobacco are also grown, chiefly in the Xi River plain. Guangxi is a major producer of manganese ore, coal, iron, tin, and fluorspar. Crude oil has been discovered in the Gulf of Tonkin. Guangxi has a mix of light and heavy industries, such as oil refineries, fertilizer and cement plants, iron, steel, and textile mills, and factories that produce paper, leather, pharmaceuticals, and handicrafts. In the late 1970s and early 80s many light industrial businesses where given managerial autonomy, which resulted in increased productivity.
Tourism is a growing industry.
The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which has a large non-Chinese minority, was created in 1958 from Guangxi prov. The Zhuang are the second largest ethnic group in China after the Han, and are by far the largest minority in the region. Other tribes include the Yao and Miao. Many Chinese Muslims also live in Guangxi. The name sometimes appears as Kwangsi Chuang.