Territorial organization of the People's Republic of China

Due to the large population and area of China, the territorial organization or political-administrative division of the country has consisted of various levels since ancient times. The current Constitution of the People's Republic of China provides, de jure, for three levels of government:

Article Nro. 30

The administrative division of the People ' s Republic of China is as follows:

(1) The country is divided into provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities that depend directly on the Central Government;

(2) Autonomous provinces and regions are divided into autonomous prefectures, counties, autonomous counties and cities; and

(3) Autonomous counties and counties are divided into municipalities, municipalities of nationality and cities.

Municipalities that directly depend on the Central Government and other major cities are divided into districts and counties. Autonomous prefectures are divided into counties, autonomous counties and cities.

All autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties are national autonomous areas.

Constitution of the People ' s Republic of China

Though currently in practice (de facto) there are five levels of government: province, prefecture, county, town and village.

Since the 17th century in China, provincial boundaries have remained largely unchanged. The main changes since then have been the reorganization of the provinces in the northeast after the creation of the People's Republic of China and the formation of autonomous regions, which have been inspired by the ethnic policies implemented in the former Soviet Union. Provinces play an important cultural role in China, as people tend to identify with their home province.

Levels of territorial organization

As previously mentioned, the Constitution of the People's Republic of China officially provides that the country is organized into three levels. However, in the actual application, two more levels have been inserted: the prefecture, in the provinces, and the people, in the municipalities (There is a sixth level, the district public office, below the counties, but it is being each level corresponds to a level in the Civil Service of the People's Republic of China).

Thus, the provincial, district and cantonal levels are made more flexible to adapt to the ethnic or economic particularities of the territory: the autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous districts are divisions of 1.er or 2nd level inhabited by the 55 minority ethnic groups that enjoy their own autonomy to make specific laws. The municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing include some of the largest cities in the world and are under direct administration. Finally, the former European colonies of Hong Kong and Macao maintain great autonomy as special administrative regions, retaining their own economic and judicial system, in addition to many characteristics of independent states, such as their own currency, Internet domain, telephone code, flag etc Under this model, Taiwan is considered one of the 23 provinces of the People's Republic of China, although in practice the island is independent, and has been administered by the regime of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since the end of the civil war in 1949..

Table

Provincial level (1st)

Sinkiang

Mong. Interior

Heilongjiang

Jilin

Liaoning

Tibet

Qinghai

Gansu

Ningxia

Shaanxi

Shanxi

Hebei

Beijing

Tianjin

Shandong

Henan

Sichuan

Chongqing

Hubei

Anhui

Jiangsu

Yunnan

Guizhou

Hunan

Jiangxi

Zhejiang

Shanghai

Guangxi

Canton

Fujian

Macao

Hong Kong

Hainan

Taiwan

Territorial organization of the People ' s Republic of China, including 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions and 2 special administrative regions.

Comparison between the administrative division of the Republic of China and the People ' s Republic of China.

There are 34 provincial-level territories in the People's Republic of China: 23 provinces (22 without Taiwan), 4 municipalities, 5 autonomous regions, and 2 special administrative regions. The five autonomous regions are associated with the five largest ethnic minorities: the Tibetans, the Uyghurs, the Mongols, the Hui, and the Zhuang. The metropolitan areas of the four cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing have a rank similar to the provincial one, constituting the so-called municipalities under direct administration of the central government. Lastly, the former European colonies of Hong Kong and Macao. The People's Republic of China also considers Taiwan as one more province, although in practice the island is an independent state, officially recognized by 25 countries in the world that do not recognize the People's Republic of China (see Political Status of Taiwan).

Most of China's provinces, except those in the Northeast, have boundaries established during the Yuan, Ming, or Qing dynasties. Provincial borders often differ substantially from the borders of cultural or geographic areas, due to the technique described as "dog tooth parting" (in Chinese, 犬牙交错; pinyin, quǎnyájiāocuò) developed by the imperial government to prevent feudalism and separatism in accordance to the idea of divide and conquer. Even so they have come to play an important cultural role, people tend to identify slightly with their birth and each one has developed a corresponding stereotype of its inhabitants.

The most recent administrative changes have been the elevation of Hainan (1988) and Chongqing (1997) to the provincial level (as a province and a municipality, respectively), as well as the incorporation to this level of Hong Kong (1997) and Macao (1999), as Special Administrative Regions.

The following is a list of all the provincial level divisions along with the name in sinograms, the map that appears at the beginning of the article on the right also corresponds to the provincial level.

Provincial level subdivisions

Prefecture level (2nd)

The prefectural or second level divisions are the second level of the administrative structure. Most of the provinces are divided only into prefectural-level cities and do not contain other second-level administrative units. Of the 22 provinces and 5 autonomous regions, only 3 provinces (Yunnan, Guizhou, Qinghai) and 1 autonomous region (Xinjiang) have more than three second-level or prefecture-level divisions that are not prefecture-level cities. As of June 2020, there were 339 prefecture-level divisions:

County level (3rd)

As of August 18, 2015, there were 2,852 divisions at the county level:

Village level (4th)

Village level (5th)

Basic level or village level autonomy serves as an organizational division (census, mail system) and does not have much importance in representative political power. Basic local divisions, such as neighborhoods and communities, are not informal as in the United States, but have defined boundaries and elected chiefs (one per zone):

In urban areas, each sub-district of a city district administers many residential communities or committees. Each of them has a residential committee to manage the inhabitants of that neighborhood or community. Rural areas are organized into village committees or groups of villagers. A "village" in this case it can be a natural village, which exists spontaneously and naturally, or a virtual village, which is a bureaucratic entity.

Special cases

Five formally prefectural-level cities have special planning and budget status. They appear separately in the five-year and annual state plans at the same level as provinces and national ministries, making them financially independent from their provincial government. These specifically designated cities in the state plan (Chinese: 计划单列市) are

• Dalian (Liaoning)
• Ningbo (Zhejiang)
• Qingdao (Shandong)
• Shenzhen (Guangdong)
• Xiamen (Fujian)

In terms of budgetary authority, its governments have the de facto status of a province, but its legislative bodies (National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference) and other non-economic authorities are at the level of a province. prefecture and under the leadership of the province.

Other large prefecture-level cities, known as sub-provincial cities, are half a level below a province. The mayors of these cities have the same rank as the lieutenant governor of a province, and their district governments have half the rank higher than those of normal districts. The capitals of some provinces (seat of the provincial government) are sub-provincial cities. In addition to the five cities specifically designated in the state plan, the sub-provincial cities are:

• Harbin (Heilongjiang)
• Changchun (Jilin)
• Shenyang (Liaoning)
• Jinan (Shandong)
• Nanjing (Jiangsu)
• Hangzhou (Zhejiang)
• Guangzhou (Guangdong)
• Wuhan (Hubei)
• Chengdu (Sichuan)
• Xi'an (Shaanxi)

The case of some county cities is similar. Some county cities have more autonomy. These cities are known as sub-prefectural cities, which means they are given a level of power higher than a county, but still lower than a prefecture. These cities are also half a level higher than they normally would be. Sub-prefectural level cities are usually not integrated into any prefecture (that is, they are directly administered by their province). Some examples of sub-prefecture level cities are Jiyuan (Henan), Xiantao, Qianjiang and Tianmen (Hubei), Golmud (Qinghai), Manzhouli (Inner Mongolia), Shihanza, Tumushuk, Aral, and Wujiaqu (Xinjiang).

Some districts are also sitting half a level higher than they should be. Examples of this are Pudong (Shanghai) and Binhai (Tianjin). Although its status as a district of a municipality would define it as prefecture-level, the district chief of Pudong has sub-provincial powers. That is, it is half a level above what would normally correspond to it.

Subdivisions in special cases