Download A full list of province-level divisions is

Province-level divisions
Most of the country is broken up into provinces (省), but there are several other geographic units
of the same hierarchical rank as provinces:
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Various ethnic groups have autonomous regions (自治区), although their autonomy is far
from complete. For the traveler, these can generally be thought of as provinces, but in
political discussions the distinction may be important.
Four of the larger municipalities (市) are not part of provinces, but independent entities
whose leaders report directly to Beijing. The smallest of these, Tianjin, has a population well
over 10 million. The largest, Chongqing, has over 30 million residents.
Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative regions (SARs，特别行政区). These
are former colonies — Hong Kong British and Macau Portuguese — that rejoined China in
the late 90s. Their economies and distinct political systems are allowed to flourish under
separate regulatory regimes from the mainland under the slogan "One country, two systems".
The SARs have their own currencies, issue their own visas, and elect their own
representative assemblies through a combination of direct and indirect representation.
A full list of province-level divisions is:
Province — capital
Autonomous region — capital
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Guangxi Zhuang (广西壮族) — Nanning (南宁)
Inner Mongolia (内蒙古) — Hohhot (呼和浩特)
Ningxia Hui (宁夏回族) — Yinchuan (银川)
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Xinjiang Uighur (新疆维吾尔族) — Urumqi (乌鲁木齐
)
Tibet (西藏) — Lhasa (拉萨)
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Anhui (安徽) — Hefei (合肥)
Fujian (福建) — Fuzhou (福州)
Gansu (甘肃) — Lanzhou (兰州)
Guangdong (广东) — Guangzhou (广州)
Guizhou (贵州) — Guiyang (贵阳)
Hainan (海南) — Haikou (海口)
Hebei (河北) — Shijiazhuang (石家庄)
Heilongjiang (黑龙江) — Harbin (哈尔滨
)
Henan (河南) — Zhengzhou (郑州)
Hubei (湖北) — Wuhan (武汉)
Hunan (湖南) — Changsha (长沙)
Jiangsu (江苏) — Nanjing (南京)
Jiangxi (江西) — Nanchang (南昌)
Jilin (吉林) — Changchun (长春)
Liaoning (辽宁) — Shenyang (沈阳)
Qinghai (青海) — Xining (西宁)
Shaanxi (陕西) — Xi'an (西安)
Shandong (山东) — Jinan (济南)
Shanxi (山西) — Taiyuan (太原)
Sichuan (四川) — Chengdu (成都)
Yunnan (云南) — Kunming (昆明)
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Municipalities
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Beijing Municipality (北京)
Chongqing Municipality (重庆)
Shanghai Municipality (上海)
Tianjin Municipality (天津)
Special Administrative Regions
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Hong Kong (香港)
Macau (澳门)
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Zhejiang (浙江) — Hangzhou (杭州)
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In pairs Guangxi/Guangdong and Shanxi/Shandong, xi is West and dong is East. "Shan"
means mountain, referring toMount Tai.
In pairs Henan/Hebei and Hunan/Hubei, nan is South and bei is North. "He" means river,
referring to the Yellow River. "Hu" is lake, referring to the big lake near Changde.
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Taiwan is a special case. At the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, the Communists held most
of China and the defeated Nationalists held only Taiwan and some other islands like
the Pescadores and Kinmen. Both sides claimed to be the only legitimate government of China,
and the official names reflect that, People's Republic of China (PRC) for the Communists and
Republic of China (ROC) for the Nationalists; even today, both governments (at least in theory)
support eventual reunification. The Chinese government is very insistent that Taiwan is a
renegade province, not a country, and strongly opposes anything even resembling recognition,
such as allowing Taiwan representation in the World Health Organisation. Meanwhile, there is
extensive trade and heavy Taiwan investment in China.
From the practical traveler's point of view, however, Taiwan is a separate country and has been
for decades, since it has its own visas, currency and so on. We therefore treat it in a separate
article here.
Lower-level divisions[edit]
Some of this structure repeats at a lower level. Provinces and regions are generally broken up
into prefectures and prefecture-level cities. Where a given minority or minorities predominate,
the prefecture can be an Autonomous Prefecture (自治州) for the various ethnic groups. Within
prefectures and cities, autonomous or otherwise, there are also Autonomous Counties (自治县)
depending on their ethnic composition.
Within a province or autonomous region political geography can be broken down into:
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Prefectures (州) and Prefecture-level Cities (市) - Although larger, these function similarly
to counties in the American political geographic system. Prefectures are predominantly rural
while prefecture-level cities are distinguished by a major anchoring urban area, which
usually lends its name to the entire area.
Counties (县) and County-level Cities (市) - these are subdivisions within prefectures or
prefecture-level cities. For major urban areas like Beijing, counties are rural and remote from
the city proper. A county-level city will be larger than a township but not major enough to
anchor the entire region.
Districts (区) and Townships (镇) - Within the urban or suburban area of a prefecture-level
city or province-level municipality, the land is further divided into districts. In the
countryside, the county is divided into townships which are generally small towns that form
the economic center for surrounding villages. In Maoist times, each township formed a
commune (人民公社).
Villages (村) or Neighborhoods - These are the smallest units of political organization.
Neighborhoods are the most local level of Communist Party organization in an urban area
while rural villages are the level for China's experiments with grass-roots democracy since
some, under the supervision of the Carter Center, hold free and contested elections for their
leaders. Many villages have long-since been absorbed by fast-growing cities and townships.
For example, in the largest-to-smallest order generally used in China: Guangdong Province Dongguan City - Qingxi Town - Xie Kang Village.