Prefecture of China
Prefecture, in the context of China, is used to refer to several unrelated political divisions in both ancient and modern China.In a modern context, prefecture-level (地区级, abbreviated 地级, "region") is used to refer to a level of division that was established in 1982 between the province and county levels. The prefecture level is the second level in the administrative hierarchy of the People's Republic of China. There are four kinds of prefecture-level divisions: prefectures, prefecture-level cities, autonomous prefectures, and leagues.
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2 Prefecture-level city 3 League 4 Autonomous prefecture 5 Development zone 6 Ancient sense |
Prefecture
Prefectures (地区 pinyin: dìqū) are governed by administrative offices (行政公署 xÃÂngzhènggōngshǔ), led by a head of office (行政首长 xÃÂngzhèngshǒuzhǎng) appointed by the province.
At one point, prefectures were the most common type of prefecture-level division. Today they have been mostly converted into prefecture-level cities, and the trend is still ongoing.
There are 17 prefectures remaining in mainland China, mostly in Xinjiang and Tibet.
Prefecture-level cities (地级市 pinyin: dìjÃÂshī) are cities that are given prefecture status and the right to govern surrounding counties. In practice, prefecture-level cities are so large that they are just like any other administrative division, and not cities in the traditional sense of the word at all.
Prefecture-level cities are the most common type of prefecture-level division in mainland China today.
Leagues (盟 pinyin: méng) are the prefectures of Inner Mongolia. The name comes from an ancient Mongolian administrative unit, which were used during the Qing Dynasty in Mongolia. During the ROC rule, the leagues had status equivalent to provinces. Leagues contain bannerss, equivalent to counties.
Just like prefectures, most leagues have been replaced by prefecture-level cities. There are only 3 leagues remaining in Inner Mongolia.
Like all other prefecture-level divisions, autonomous prefectures are divided into county-level divisions. There is one exception: Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture contains two prefectures of its own.
Under the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, autonomous prefectures cannot not be abolished.
Xian (县/縣) were first established during the Warring States Period, and have existed continuously ever since. Today, they continue to form an important part of the political divisions of China.
Xian has been translated using several English language terms. In the context of ancient history, "district" and "prefecture" are the most commonly used terms, while "county" is generally used for more contemporary contexts.
See County of China for more information.
Zhou (州) were first established during the Han Dynasty, and were abolished only with the establishment of the Republic of China.
Zhou is generally translated as "province" or "region" for the period before the Sui Dynasty, and "prefecture" for the period from the Sui Dynasty onwards.
The People's Republic of China has revived the word zhou as part of the term "zizhizhou" (自治州), which is translated as "autonomous prefectures", as described above.
Prefecture-level city
Main article: Prefecture-level cityLeague
Main article: League (Inner Mongolia)Autonomous prefecture
Autonomous prefectures (自治州 pinyin: zìzhìzhōu) are either have over 50% of the population with ethnic minorities or are historically resided by significant minorities. All autonomous prefectures are mostly dominated, in population, by the Han Chinese. The official name of an autonomous prefecture includes the most dominant minority in that region, sometimes two, rarely three. For example, a Kazakh (Kazak in official naming system) prefecture may be called Kazak Zizhizhou). Development zone
Development zones (开发区 pinyin: kāifāqū) were temporary prefecture-level divisions. Chongqing was a development zone before it became a municipality, and two development zones were set up within Chongqing immediately after it became a municipality. These divisions were temporary and no longer exist.Ancient sense
Xian
Zhou