Question
How many subnational areas does the People's Republic of China (PRC) have, how do they relate by category, and how are they identified in Data Buffet?
Answer
Summary
For the People's Republic of China, first- and second-level administrative and statistical regions each have multiple subtypes, whose legal distinctions are immaterial to our statistical coverage. For brevity, we refer to them as province-level areas and prefecture-level areas, respectively.
There are officially 34 first-level administrative divisions, of which there are four types.
- 23 provinces (sheng), which include Taiwan (China)
- Four province-level municipalities (shih) - Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin
- Five autonomous regions (zizhiqu) - Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Tibet, Xingjiang
- Two special administrative regions (SARs) - Hong Kong, Macau
Geographic code lists and subnational datasets reported by the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China (NBS) typically contain 31 of the 34 first-level areas (this aggregate is commonly called "Mainland China"); the remaining three (Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan (China)) operate independent statistical agencies.
The NBS China Statistical Yearbook 2016 (citation) notes:
The national data [i.e., national aggregates] in this book do not include those of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region [or] Taiwan Province ... In accordance with the principles set down in the Basic Law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the Basic Law of Macao Special Administrative Region, statistically Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland of China are three mutually independent regions, each following its own and different statistical systems and legal provisions in conducting statistical operations independently.
First-level administrative areas by region
Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan (China) are not enumerated in this list.
- Eastern region (10):
- Beijing
- Fujian
- Guangdong
- Hainan
- Hebei
- Jiangsu
- Shandong
- Shanghai
- Tianjin
- Zhejiang
- Central region (six areas):
- Anhui
- Henan
- Hubei
- Hunan
- Jiangxi
- Shanxi
- Western region (12 areas):
- Chongqing
- Gansu
- Guangxi
- Guizhou
- Inner Mongolia
- Ningxia
- Qinghai
- Shaanxi
- Sichuan
- Tibet
- Xinjiang
- Yunnan
- Northeastern region (three areas):
- Heilongjiang
- Jilin
- Liaoning
Hierarchy by geo type
- Province under the central government
- Autonomous prefecture
- County
- Township
- Ethnic township
- Town
- Autonomous county
- Township, ethnic township, town
- City
- County
- Autonomous county
- City
- Autonomous region under the central government
- Autonomous prefecture
- County
- Township, ethnic township, town
- Autonomous county
- Township, ethnic township, town
- City
- County
- Township, ethnic township, town
- Autonomous county
- Township, ethnic township, town
- City
- Municipality under the central government
- Special administrative region
- Large city
Geo code patterns by type
The four areas (Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan (China)) report data separately and are convenient to model separately, so we have assigned each an I^^^-type geo code.
Geo level | Pattern | Count |
Country |
ICHN |
1 |
Province-level municipality |
ICHN_^^ |
36 |
Prefecture |
ICHN_^^^ |
17 |
Autonomous prefecture |
ICHN_^^^ |
30 |
Prefecture-level city |
ICHN_^^^ |
273 |
Sub-prefectural city |
ICHN_^^^ |
4 |
Sub-provincial city |
ICHN_^^^ |
16 |
League |
ICHN_^^^ |
3 |
Moody's Analytics metropolitan area |
ICHN_M^^^ |
23 |
Hong Kong SAR |
IHKG |
1 |
Macau SAR |
IMAC |
1 |
Taiwan (China) |
ITWN |
1 |
References
See also