Political divisions of China
Due to China's large population and area, the
political divisions of China have always consisted of several levels since ancient times. The constitution of the
People's Republic of China provides for three
de jure levels of government. Currently, however, there are five practical (
de facto) levels of local government in
mainland China: the province, prefecture, county, township, and village. The
Republic of China on
Taiwan uses a slightly different system, with streamlined provinces and no prefectures. (see
Political divisions of the Republic of China for more details)
The provinces serve an important cultural role in China. People tend to be identified in terms of their native provinces, and each province has a stereotype that corresponds to their inhabitants. Most of the provinces of China have boundaries which were established in the late
Ming Dynasty. Major changes since then have been the reorganization of provinces in the Northeast after the Communist takeover of
mainland China in 1949 and the establishment of autonomous regions which are based on Soviet nationality theory.
The constitution of the
People's Republic of China provides for three levels: the province, county, and township. However, two more levels have been inserted in actual implementation: the prefecture, under provinces; and the village, under townships. (There is a sixth level, the
district public office, under counties, but it is being abolished.)
Each of the levels correspond to a level in the
Civil service of the People's Republic of China.
Province level
The
People's Republic of China administers 33 province-level (省级
shěngjí) divisions, including 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two special administrative regions. The
Republic of China administers two municipalities and two provinces (though both provincial governments have been largely streamlined).
In mainland China, provinces are theoretically subservient to the PRC central government, but in practice provincial officials have a large amount of discretion with regard to economic policy. Unlike the
United States, the power of the central government was (with the exception of the military) not exercised through a parallel set of institutions until the early 1990s. The actual practical power of the provinces has created what some economists call
federalism with Chinese characteristics.
Most of the
provinces of China, with the exception of the provinces in the northeast, have boundaries which were established during the
Yuan,
Ming, and
Qing dynasties. Sometimes provincial borders veer markedly away from cultural or geographical boundaries, a phenomenon described as "dog's teeth interlocking" (犬牙交" quǎnyájiāocuò). This was an attempt by the imperial government to discourage
separatism and warlordism through a
divide and rule policy. Nevertheless, provinces have come to serve an important cultural role in China. People tend to be identified in terms of their native provinces, and each province has a stereotype that corresponds to their inhabitants.
The most recent administrative changes have included the elevation of
Hainan and
Chongqing to provincial level status and the organization of
Hong Kong and
Macau as
Special Administrative Regions. In
Taiwan,
Taipei and
Kaohsiung were elevated to the status of centrally administered municipalities after the retreat of the
KMT-led government.
Provinces
Provinces (省/省
shěng) are the most common type of province-level division.
= Disputed area
=
Main article: Political status of Taiwan
Since its founding in 1949, the
People's Republic of China has considered Taiwan to be its 23rd province. However, the
Republic of China currently controls this province, which consists of Taiwan island and the
Pescadores. The ROC also controls one county of
Fuchien (or Fukien) province:
Kinmen; and part of a second county:
Lienchiang. In addition, the ROC officially claims all of
mainland China (including
Tibet),
outer Mongolia and
Tuva. This claim was unofficially dropped by then ROC President
Lee Teng-hui in
1991, but has not been followed up by constitutional amendment.
Maps of China published in Taiwan will often show provincial boundaries as they were in 1949 which do not match the current administrative structure as decided by the
Communist Party of China post-1949, and include all of the areas claimed by the ROC.
Autonomous regions
Autonomous regions (自治區/自治区
zìzhìqū) are province-level divisions with a designated
ethnic minority, and are guaranteed more rights under the constitution. For example, they have a chairman (where regular provinces have governors), who must be of the ethnic group as specified by the autonomous region (
Tibetan,
Uyghur, etc)
Autonomous regions were established after communist takeover, following
Soviet nationality policy. There are five in total.
Municipalities
Municipalities (直轄市/直辖市
zhíxiáshì) are large cities that have the same administrative level as provinces. Municipalities directly control county-level divisions, without an intervening prefecture-level. In practice, the actual metropolitan area of a municipality is only a tiny fraction of its total area; the rest of the municipality consists of towns and farmland.
Chongqing is an extreme example of this — the rural population of this municipality exceeds its urban population.
There are 4 municipalities in the
People's Republic of China.
There are 2 municipalities administered by the ROC. These are quite different from the municipalities found in Mainland China: rather than governing an area many times larger than the metropolitan area, they govern only a portion of the metropolitan areas of which they are a part. See
Political divisions of the Republic of China.
Since these two cities were elevated after 1949 by a government the PRC considered no longer legitimate, the PRC does not consider them to be centrally administered municipalities and refers to Taipei, and not
Jhongsing Village, as the provincial capital of Taiwan.
Special administrative regions
Special administrative regions (特別行"區/特别行"区 tèbiéxíngzhèngqū) (SARs) are local administrative regions enjoying a high degree of autonomy under the
One country, two systems arrangement, and come directly under the
Central People's Government, as provided in the articles 12 of both
basic laws of the two SARs.
Unlike provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, whose legal basis is provided for in Article 30 of the
1982 Constitution that governs administrative divisions, special administrative regions are provided for in Article 31 in anticipation of the
retrocession of Hong Kong and Macau. The two SARs were established in 1997 and 1999 when the sovereignty of the two entities was transferred (from the
United Kingdom and
Portugal respectively) to the People's Republic of China.
The two special administrative regions come directly under the Central People's Government. As opposed to other provincial-level administrative divisions (provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions), SARs reserve a much higher level of autonomy, with their own
courts of last resort,
legal systems,
passports,
currencies,
customs control,
immigration policies,
extradition, etc., except
diplomatic relations and
national defence. The SARs participate in various international organisations and sporting events as separate members/teams from the PRC.
Both SARs are small, and neither uses the administrative structure of
mainland China. Hong Kong is divided into 18
districts, each with a consultative
district council. Macau is divided into two
concelhos and seven
freguesias (parishes) with no formal duties.
See also:
*
Districts of Hong Kong*
Parishes of MacauPrefecture level
For a complete listing of all the prefecture-level divisions of China, see the article for each province.Prefecture-level (地级
dìjí) divisions exists in mainland China, not Taiwan. This level is the second level of the administrative structure. As of
December 31,
2005, the second level of mainland China's administrative structure consisted of 333 divisions comprised of:
*
prefecture-level cities (283)
*
prefectures (17)
*
autonomous prefectures (30)
*
Leagues (3) --
Inner Mongolia onlyPrefecture-level cities (地级市
dìjíshì) form the vast majority of prefecture-level divisions. Prefecture-level cities are generally composed of an urban center and surrounding rural areas much larger than the urban core, and thus are not "
cities" in the strict sense of the term.
Most provinces are divided into only prefecture-level cities and contain no other second-level administrative units. Of the 22 provinces and 5 autonomous regions of
Mainland China, only 3 provinces (
Yunnan,
Guizhou,
Qinghai) and 2 autonomous regions (
Xinjiang,
Tibet) have more than three
second-level or prefecture-level divisions that are not prefecture-level cities.
Prefectures (地区
dìqū) are another level of government found at the prefecture-level. These were formerly the dominant second-level division, which is why this administrative level is often called "prefecture-level". However, they were replaced for the most part by
prefecture-level cities in the from
1983 to
1990s. Today, prefectures exist mostly in
Xinjiang and
Tibet only.
Leagues (盟
méng) are effectively the same as prefectures, but they are to be found only in
Inner Mongolia. Like prefectures, leagues have mostly been replaced with prefecture-level cities. The unique name is a holdover from earlier forms of administration in Mongolia.
Autonomous prefectures (自治州
zìzhìzhōu) are prefectures with one or several designated
ethnic minority/minorities. These are mostly to be found in China's western regions.
County level
For a complete listing of all the county-level divisions of China, follow the links in these tablesAs of
December 31,
2005, there are 2862 county-level (县级
xiànjí) divisions, including 852 districts, 374 cities, 1464 counties, 117 autonomous counties, 49 banners, 3 autonomous banners, 2 special districts and 1 forestry district in mainland China. The
Republic of China governs 23 county-level divisions, including 18 counties and 5 provincial municipalities.
Counties (县
xiàn) are the most common county-level division. Counties have continuously existed since the
Warring States Period, much earlier than any other level of government in China. In
Sinologist literature,
xian are often translated as "districts" or "prefectures". Wikipedia will try to maintain consistency and translate all of them as "counties".
Autonomous counties (自治县
zìzhìxiàn) are counties with one or several designated
ethnic minority/minorities. These are analogous to autonomous regions (at the province-level) and autonomous prefectures (at the prefecture-level).
Inner Mongolia has
banners (旗
qí) and
autonomous banners (自治旗
zìzhìqí), which are the same as counties and autonomous counties except in name. The name is a holdover from earlier forms of administration in Mongolia.
County-level cities (县级市
xiànjíshì) are, like prefecture-level cities, not "
cities" in the traditional sense of the word, since they are actually large administrative regions that cover both urban and rural areas. It was popular for counties to become county-level cities in the
1990s, though this has since been halted. In Taiwan, county-level cities are known as
provincial cities (省轄市
shěngxiáshì).
Districts (市辖区
shìxiáqū or simply 区
qū) are another type of county-level division. These were formerly the subdivisions of urban areas, consisting of built-up areas only. In recent years, however, many counties have been converted into districts, so that today districts are often just like counties, with towns, villages, and farmland.
There are also a few special county-level divisions. There is a county-level forestry district (林区
línqū) in
Hubei province,
Shennongjia, that is a county-level division; so are two special districts (特区
tèqū) in
Guizhou province,
Liuzhi and
Wanshan.
Township level
As of
December 31,
2005 there were 41636 township-level (乡级
xiāngjí) divisions. These include 19522
towns, 14677
township, 1092
ethnic townships, 181
sumu, 1
ethnic sumu, 6152
subdistricts, and 11
district public offices in mainland China. At the same administrative level, the
Republic of China administers 32
county-administered cities, 226
rural townships, and 61
urban townships. (
See Political divisions of the Republic of China.)
In the mainland, in general, urban areas are divided into
subdistricts (街"办事处
ji"dàobànshìchù or simply 街办
ji"bàn, literally "street offices"), while rural areas are divided into
towns (镇
zhèn),
townships (乡
xiāng), and
ethnic townships (民族乡
mínzúxiāng).
Sumu (苏木
sūmù) and
ethnic sumu (民族苏木
mínzúsūmù) are the same as townships and ethnic townships, but are unique to
Inner Mongolia.
The
Republic of China is different from mainland China in that it has instead
county-administered cities (縣轄市
xiànxiáshì), which are cities at the township level. The
People's Republic of China has no equivalent of this. Also, the
urban townships and
rural townships of the Republic of China are the same as towns and townships of the mainland; the difference is in the translation to English.
District public offices (区公所
qūgōngsu') are a vestigial level of government in mainland China. These once represented an extra level of government between the county- and township-levels. Today there are very few of these remaining and they are gradually being phased out.
Village level
The
village level (村级
cūnjí) serves as an organizational division (census, mail system) and not so much importance in political representative power. Basic local divisions like
neighborhoods and
communities are not informal like in the West, but have defined boundaries and designated heads (one per area):
In general, In urban area, every subdistrict of a district of a city administers (thus is divided into) many
communities (社区
shèqū or 小区 or 居住区) or
neighborhoods (居民区
jūmínqū). Each of them have a
neighborhood committee or
community committee or
residents' committee (社区居民"员会
jūmínwěiyuánhùi or simply 居"会
jūwěihùi) to administer the dwellers of that neibourhood or community; while rural areas are organized into
village committees (村民"员会
cūnmínwěiyuánhùi or simply 村"会
cūnwěihùi) or villager groups (村民小组
cūnmínxiǎoz"). A "village" in this case can either be a
natural village (自然村
zìráncūn), one that spontaneously and naturally exists, or an
administrative village (行"村
xíngzhèngcūn), which is a bureaucratic entity.
Special cases
Although every single administrative division has a clearly defined level associated with it, sometimes an entity may be given
more autonomy than its level allows for.
For example, a few of the largest prefecture-level cities are given more autonomy. These are known as
sub-provincial cities (副省级市
fùshěngjíshì), meaning that they are given a level of power higher than a prefecture, but still lower than a province. Such cities are
half a level higher than what they would normally be. Although these cities still belong to provinces, their special status gives them a high degree of autonomy within their respective provinces.
A similar case exists with some county-level cities. Some county-level cities are given more autonomy. These cities are known as
sub-prefecture-level cities (副地级市
fùdìjíshì), meaning that they are given a level of power higher than a county, but still lower than a prefecture. Such cities are also
half a level higher than what they would normally be. Sub-prefecture-level cities are often not put into any prefecture (i.e. they are directly administered by their province).
An extreme example is
Pudong District of Shanghai. Although its status as a
district would define it as county-level, the district head of Pudong is given sub-provincial powers. In other words, it is
one and a half levels higher than what it would normally be.
Summary
This table summarizes the divisions of the area administered by the
People's Republic of China as of
December 31,
2005.
Main article: History of the political divisions of China
Before the establishment of the
Qin Dynasty, China was ruled by a network of kings, nobles, and tribes. The rivalry of these groups culminated in the
Warring States Period, and the
state of Qin eventually emerged dominant.
The
Qin Dynasty was determined not to allow China to fall back into disunity, and therefore designed the first hierarchical administrative divisions in China, based on two levels:
jùn commanderies and
xiàn counties (
xian is usually translated as "districts" or "prefectures" in
Sinologist literature, but here we will use "county", the contemporary term). The
Han Dynasty that came immediately after added
zhōu (usually translated as "provinces") as a third level on top, forming a three-tier structure.
The
Sui Dynasty and
Tang Dynasty abolished commanderies, and added
circuits (
dào, later
lù under the
Song) on top, maintaining a three-tier system that lasted through the
Song Dynasty. (As a second-level division,
zhou are translated as "prefectures".) The Mongol-established
Yuan Dynasty introduced the modern precursors to
provinces, bringing the number of levels to four. This system was then kept more or less intact until the
Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty to rule China.
The
Republic of China streamlined the levels to just provinces and
counties, and made the first attempt to extend political administration beyond the county level by establishing
townships below counties. This was also the system officially adopted by the
People's Republic of China in
1949, which defined the administrative divisions of China as three levels: provinces,
counties, and
townships.
In practice, however, more levels were inserted.
Greater administrative areas were inserted on top of provinces, but they were soon abolished, in
1954.
Prefectures were inserted between provinces and counties; they continue be ubiquitously applied to nearly all areas of China.
District public offices were inserted between counties and townships; once ubiquitous as well, they are currently being abolished, and very few remain.
The most recent developments major developments have been the establishment of
Chongqing as a
municipality and the creation of
Hong Kong and
Macau special administrative regions.
Main article: Reform of the political divisions of China
In recent years there have been calls to reform the administrative divisions and levels of China. Rumours of an impending major reform have also spread through various online bulletin boards.
The abolishment of
district public offices is an ongoing reform to remove an extra level of administration from between the county and township levels. There have also been calls to abolish the prefecture level, and some provinces have transferred some of the power prefectures currently hold to the counties they govern. There are also calls to reduce the size of the provinces. The ultimate goal is to reduce the different administration levels from five to three, (Provincial, County, Village) reducing the amount of corruption that goes on in between and reducing the number of government workers to reduce budget.
*
Tiao-kuai, something like
federalism*
Schematic Representation of the Provinces of China*
Literal Meaning and Brief History of the Provinces*
Statistics*
Descriptions of the levels (in
Traditional Chinese)
** An
all-in-one-page version*
Political divisions down to town-level (in
Simplified Chinese)
