The city of Guiyang first emerged during the Spring and Autumn Period, being a peripheral settlement within the southwest of modern China. It was the capital of Yelang until its conquest by the Han Dynasty, a legacy marked in idioms extolling the arrogance of its former ruler. The city was conquered and became a portion of a local region, but faded into relative obscurity over the following centuries, only re-emerging as Juzhou in documents written under the Song Dynasty labelling it as the sole portion of a vassal state inherited from the Tang Dynasty.

As the Yuan Dynasty fully extended its reach over China, and now labelled as Shunuan, Guiyang benefitted from investment seeking the enhancement of military and civilian administration. Under the Yongle Emperor, Guiyang became the capital of Guizhou for the first time, before being destroyed in a siege in 1622. Recovering through the Qing Dynasty, Guiyang managed to slowly extend its reach across southwest China, with its province being expanded and occasionally renamed until the Xinhai Revolution, and until a later reorganisation again under Japanese control.

Guiyang has maintained its prominent position within the governance of Guizhou, but has only grown in prominence since the Second Sino-Japanese War as the centre of the Southwest Military Administrative Command. Whilst not the richest city in the region, the influx of gold and manpower flowing into its coffers helps to keep the city afloat, and to maintain its prosperity in the region. Foreigners too flow in, officially professing an interest in its local history and geography, and forced to maintain it under strict surveillance from the military.