Chinese provinces and regions
China's system of political geography differs somewhat from that in other countries. In some ways it is more complex and it has undergone considerable change over the last century or so.
There is some ambiguity when one uses place names in China. For example "Chengdu" can mean either the city itself or the entire prefecture-level city which includes significant amounts of countryside, many villages and some "small" towns with a population anywhere up to a few hundred thousand. Moreover, when someone says their hometown is Chengdu, it might mean their family and identity papers are from there even if they actually grew up elsewhere.
For some of the history, see Imperial China.
Province-level divisionsMost of the country is broken up into provinces (省) which tend to have their own cultural identities, but there are several other geographic units of the same hierarchical rank as provinces:
Lower-level divisionsSome of this structure repeats at a lower level. Provinces and autonomous regions are generally broken up into prefecture-level cities.
Development zonesThere are also Special Economic Zones (SEZ, 经济特区) set up to encourage development and foreign investment with tax concessions and other government measures.
City tiersChinese cities are often classified into different tiers, with Tier 1 (一线城市) being the highest.
SportsEvery four years, in the year after the Summer Olympics, China's provincial-level units compete against each other in a multi-sport event known as the National Games (全国运动会), with Hong Kong and Macau sending teams as…
Treaty ports and concessionsWhen Europeans first came to China by sea, from the late 1500s on, the Emperor strictly controlled their trade and movements.
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Chinese provinces and regions" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0