Question: How many provinces does China have?

Provinces of China













This article is part of a series onAdministrative divisions of China
Provincial level (1st)Municipalities

Provinces

Autonomous regions

Special administrative regions

Sub-provincial levelSub-provincial cities

Sub-provincial autonomous prefectures

Sub-provincial city districts
Prefectural level (2nd)Prefectural cities

Autonomous prefectures

Leagues (Aimag)

(abolishing)

Prefectures

(abolishing)
Sub-prefectural-levelSub-prefectural cities

Provincial-controlled cities

Provincial-controlled counties

Provincial-controlled districts
County level (3rd)Counties

Autonomous counties

County-level cities

Districts
Ethnic districts

Banners (Hoxu)
Autonomous banners

Shennongjia Forestry District

Liuzhi Special District

Wolong Special Administrative Region

Workers and peasants districts

(obsolete)
Analogous county level unitsManagement areas
Management committee
Township level (4th)Townships

Ethnic townships

Towns

Subdistricts

Subdistrict bureaux

Sum

Ethnic sum

County-controlled districts

County-controlled district bureaux

(obsolete)

Management committees

Town-level city

(pilot)
Analogous township level unitsManagement areas
Management committee

Areas

Farms area, Prison area, University towns etc.
Village level (5th)(Grassroots Autonomous Organizations)

Villages · Gaqa

Village Committees

Communities

Residential Committees
OtherRegions

Capital cities

New areas

Autonomous administrative divisions

National Central Cities

Special Economic Zones
History: before 1912, 1912–49, 1949–present

Administrative division codesvt
Provincial-level administrative divisions (Chinese:省级行政区; pinyin:shěng-jí xíngzhèngqū) or first-level administrative divisions (一级行政区; yī-jí xíngzhèngqū), are the highest-level Chinese administrative divisions. There are 34 such divisions, classified as 23 provinces (Chinese:省; pinyin:shěng), four municipalities, five autonomous regions, and two Special Administrative Regions. All but Taiwan Province and a small fraction of Fujian Province (currently administered by the Republic of China) are controlled by the People's Republic of China.
Note that every province (except Hong Kong and Macau, the two special administrative regions) has a Communist Party of China provincial committee (Chinese:省委; pinyin:shěngwěi), headed by a secretary (Chinese:书记; pinyin:shūjì). The committee secretary is effectively in charge of the province, rather than the nominal governor of the provincial government.[3]
Types of provincial-level divisions
Province
The government of each standard province (Chinese:省; pinyin:shěng) is nominally led by a provincial committee, headed by a secretary. The committee secretary is first-in-charge of the province; second-in-command is the governor of the provincial government.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) claims the island of Taiwan and its surrounding islets, including Penghu, as "Taiwan Province", though Taiwan has not been under control of a government that ruled from mainland China since 1949, when the Republic of China lost the mainland to the Communist Party of China, which established the PRC. (Kinmen and the Matsu Islands are claimed by the PRC as part of its Fujian Province. Pratas and Itu Aba are claimed by the PRC as part of Guangdong and Hainan provinces respectively.) The territory is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC, commonly called "Taiwan").
Municipality

A municipality (simplified Chinese:直辖市; traditional Chinese:直轄市; pinyin:zhíxiáshì; literally: 'direct-administrated city') or municipality directly under the administration of the central government is a higher level of city which is directly under the Chinese government, with status equal to that of the provinces. In practice, their political status is higher than that of common provinces.
Autonomous region

An autonomous region (simplified Chinese:自治区; traditional Chinese:自治區; pinyin:zìzhìqū) is a minority subject which has a higher population of a particular minority ethnic group along with its own local government, but an autonomous region theoretically has more legislative rights than in actual practice. The governor of each autonomous region is usually appointed from the respective minority ethnic group.
Special administrative region (SAR)

A special administrative region (SAR) (simplified Chinese:特别行政区; traditional Chinese:特別行政區; pinyin:tèbié xíngzhèngqū) is a highly autonomous and self-governing sub national subject of the People's Republic of China that is directly under the Central People's Government. Each SAR has a chief executive as head of the region and head of government. The region's government is not fully independent, as foreign policy and military defence are the responsibility of the central government, according to the basic laws.

List of province-level divisions

A large area ( more than 37,244 sq.km.) in Disputed Territory of Tibet is claimed by The Republic of INDIA.
Please refer to ("")
The generic name China in itself is disputed. Not all member States of The United Nations Recognize People's Republic of China. Some of them still refuse to recognise PRC, but in stead, do recognise Republic of China (ROC, I.e, Taiwan)

Claims of PRC over Muslim Majority East Turkastan region (Also some times referred to as Sinkiang) are long disputed
History


Yuan provinces
The rulers of China first set up provinces—initially 11 in number—during the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) with 2 addition regions: Central region ruled by the Zhongshu Sheng (中書省) and the Tibetan region ruled by the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs (宣政院).

Ming provinces
The Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) kept the province system set up by the Yuan Dynasty, however, it divided the original 10 provinces into 16 provinces, later 2 capital metropolitan areas and 13 provinces (兩京十三省) within China proper and 5 additional military ruled regions.

Qing provinces
By the time of the establishment of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) in 1644 there were 18 provinces, all of them in China proper (內地十八省).

Anhui (安徽省)
Fujian (福建省)
Gansu (甘肅省)
Guangdong (廣東省)
Guangxi (廣西省)
Guizhou (貴州省)
Henan (河南省)
Hubei (湖北省)
Hunan (湖南省)
Jiangsu (江蘇省)
Jiangxi (江西省)
Shaanxi (陝西省)
Shandong (山東省)
Shanxi (山西省)
Sichuan (四川省)
Yunnan (雲南省)
Zhejiang (浙江省)
Zhili (直隸省)

New provinces
Xinjiang (新疆省) 1884–1912
Fengtian (奉天省) 1907–1912
Jilin (吉林省) 1907–1912
Heilongjiang (黑龍江省) 1907–1912
Taiwan (臺灣省) 1885–1895
Each province had a xunfu (巡撫; xúnfǔ; translated as "governor"), a political overseer on behalf of the emperor, and a tidu (提督; tídū; translated as "captain general"), a military governor. In addition, there was a zongdu (總督; zǒngdū), a general military inspector or governor general, for every two to three provinces.
Outer regions of China (those beyond China proper) were not divided into provinces. Military leaders or generals (將軍; jiāngjūn) oversaw Manchuria (consisting of Fengtian (now Liaoning), Jilin, Heilongjiang), Xinjiang, and Mongolia, while vice-dutong (副都統; fù dūtǒng) and civilian leaders headed the leagues (盟長; méng zhǎng), a subdivision of Mongolia. The ambans (駐藏大臣; zhù cáng dàchén) supervised the administration of Tibet.
In 1884 Xinjiang became a province; in 1907 Fengtian, Jilin, and Heilongjiang were made provinces as well. Taiwan became a province in 1885, but China ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895. As a result, there were 22 provinces in China (Outer China and China proper) near the end of the Qing Dynasty.
ROC provinces (1912–1949)
The Republic of China, established in 1912, set up four more provinces in Inner Mongolia and two provinces in historic Tibet, bringing the total to 28. In 1931, Ma Zhongying established Hexi in the northern parts of Gansu but the ROC never acknowledged the province. However, China lost four provinces with the establishment of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Manchuria. After the defeat of Japan in World War II in 1945, China re-incorporated Manchuria as 10 provinces, and assumed control of Taiwan as a province. As a result, the Republic of China in 1946 had 35 provinces. Although the Republic of China now only controls one province (Taiwan), and some islands of a second province (Fujian), it continues to formally claim all 35 provinces (including those that no longer form part of the area of the People's Republic of China).

Andong (安東省) 1947–1949
Anhui (安徽省)
Fujian (福建省)
Gansu (甘肅省)
Guangdong (廣東省)
Guangxi (廣西省)
Guizhou (貴州省)
Heilongjiang (黑龍江省)
Zhili (直隸省) renamed Hebei (河北省)
Hejiang (合江省) 1947–1949
Henan (河南省)
Hexi (河西省) 1931, not acknowledged by ROC
Hubei (湖北省)
Hunan (湖南省)
Jiangsu (江蘇省)
Jiangxi (江西省)
Jilin (吉林省)
Liaobei (遼北省) 1947–1949
Fengtian (奉天省) renamed Liaoning (遼寧省)
Nenjiang (嫩江省) 1947–1949
Ningxia (寧夏省) 1928–1949
Qahar (察哈爾省) 1928–1949
Qinghai (青海省) 1928–1949
Rehe (熱河省) 1928–1949
Shaanxi (陝西省)
Shandong (山東省)
Shanxi (山西省)
Sichuan (四川省)
Songjiang (松江省) 1947–1949
Suiyuan (綏遠省) 1928–1949
Taiwan (臺灣省) 1945–1949
Xing'an (興安省) 1947–1949
Xikang (西康省) 1928–1949
Xinjiang (新疆省)
Yunnan (雲南省)
Zhejiang (浙江省)

Other province-level divisions

Chuanbian Special Administrative Region (川邊特別行政區) 1914–1935
Dongsheng Special Region (東省特別行政區) 1923–1932
Hainan Special Administrative Region (海南特別行政區) 1944–1949
Qahar Special Administrative Region (察哈爾特別行政區) 1914–1928
Rehe Special Administrative Region (熱河特別行政區) 1914–1928
Suiyuan Special Administrative Region (綏遠特別行政區) 1914–1928
Weihai Special Administrative Region (威海衛特別行政區) 1930–1945
Mongolia Area (蒙古地方) 1928–1946
Tibet Area (西藏地方) 1928–1949
Beiping Yuan-controlled Municipality (北平市) 1928–1949
Chongqing Yuan-controlled Municipality (重慶市) 1939–1949
Dalian Yuan-controlled Municipality (大連市) 1945–1949
Guangzhou Yuan-controlled Municipality (廣州市) 1930, 1947–1949
Hankou Yuan-controlled Municipality (漢口市) 1927–1949
Harbin Yuan-controlled Municipality (哈爾濱市) 1946–1949
Nanjing Yuan-controlled Municipality (南京市) 1927–1949
Qingdao Yuan-controlled Municipality (青島市) 1929–1949
Shanghai Yuan-controlled Municipality (上海市) 1927–1949
Shenyang Yuan-controlled Municipality (瀋陽市) 1947–1949
Tianjin Yuan-controlled Municipality (天津市) 1928–1949
Xi'an Yuan-controlled Municipality (西安市) 1948–1949

List of PRC province-level divisions
abolished
claimed
Greater administrative areas

Provinces

Autonomous regions

Municipalities

Special administrative regions

Administrative territories

Regions

Territories

The People's Republic of China abolished many of the provinces in the 1950s and converted a number of them into autonomous regions. Hainan became a separate province in 1988, bringing the total number of provinces under PRC control to 22.
"Lost territories" of China
During the 20th century, China claimed that numerous neighbouring countries and regions in Asia were "lost territories" of China.[7][8] Many of these "lost territories" were under the rule of Imperial Chinese dynasties or were tributary states.[7] Sun Yat-sen claimed that these territories were lost due to unequal treaties, forceful occupation and annexation, and foreign interference. Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, among others, were supportive of these claims.[9] China published a series of maps during this time known as a "Map of National Shame" (Chinese:國恥地圖; pinyin:Guóchǐ dìtú) which showcased some of the "lost territories" that had links to various Imperial Chinese dynasties.

Economies
The provinces in south coastal area of China—such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and (mainly) Guangdong—tend to be more industrialized, with regions in the hinterland less developed.
See also

Chinese federalism
List of China administrative divisions by population
List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP
List of provincial leaders of the People's Republic of China
Regional discrimination in China
Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China
Tiao-kuai
Yangtze River Delta
Zhou (country subdivision)





 — with economic indicators for all Chinese Provinces.