Administrative Division System
|
—The country is divided into provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government;
—A province or an autonomous region is subdivided into autonomous prefectures, counties, autonomous counties, and/or cities;
—A county or an autonomous county is subdivided into townships, national minority townships, and/or towns.
Municipalities directly under the Central Government and large cities are subdivided into districts and counties; autonomous prefectures are subdivided into counties, autonomous counties, and cities. Autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures, and autonomous counties are all autonomous national minority areas.
The Constitution specifically empowers the state to establish special administrative regions when necessary. A special administrative region is a local administrative area directly under the Central Government.
At present, China was divided into 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government, and 2 special administrative region (see the following table).
China's Provinces, Autonomous Regions, Centrally Administered
Municipalities and Special Administrative Regions
Name |
Seat of Government |
Area (100,000sqkm) |
Population (100,000) |
Beijing Municipality |
Beijing |
0.168 |
125.7 |
Tianjin Municipality |
Tianjin |
0.113 |
95.9 |
Hebei Province |
Shijiazhuang |
1.900 |
661.4 |
Shanxi Province |
Taiyuan |
1.560 |
320.4 |
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region |
Hohhot |
11.830 |
236.2 |
Liaoning Province |
1.457 |
417.1 | |
Jilin Province |
1.870 |
265.8 | |
Heilongjiang Province |
4.690 |
379.2 | |
Shanghai Municipality |
Shanghai |
0.062 |
147.4 |
Jiangsu Province |
Nanjing |
1.026 |
721.3 |
Zhejiang Province |
1.018 |
447.5 | |
Anhui Province |
Hefei |
1.390 |
623.7 |
Fujian Province |
Fuzhou |
1.200 |
331.6 |
Jiangxi Province |
Nanchang |
1.666 |
423.1 |
Shandong Province |
Jinan |
1.530 |
888.3 |
Henan Province |
Zhengzhou |
1.670 |
938.7 |
Hubei Province |
Wuhan |
1.874 |
593.8 |
Hunan Province |
2.100 |
653.2 | |
Guangdong Province |
Guangzhou |
1.860 |
727.0 |
Guangxi Autonomous Region |
Nanning |
2.363 |
471.3 |
Hainan Province |
0.340 |
76.2 | |
Chongqing Municipality |
Chongqing |
0.820 |
307.5 |
Sichuan Province |
4.880 |
855.0 | |
Guizhou Province |
Guiyang |
1.700 |
371.0 |
Yunnan Province |
3.940 |
419.2 | |
Tibet Autonomous Region |
Lhasa |
12.200 |
25.6 |
Shaanxi Province |
Xi'an |
2.050 |
361.8 |
Gansu Province |
Lanzhou |
4.500 |
254.3 |
Qinghai Province |
Xining |
7.200 |
51.0 |
Ningxia Autonomous Region |
Yinchuan |
0.664 |
54.3 |
Xinjiang Autonomous Region |
Urumqi |
16.000 |
177.4 |
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region |
Hong Kong |
0.01092 |
68.4 (in mid 1999) |
Macao Special Administrative Region |
Macao |
0.00024 |
4.3 |
Taiwan Province |
0.360 |
217.4 (at the end of 1997) |
Administrative Map of China