China’s Provincial Level Administrative Units

China is currently administered by the central government in Beijing.  The country has been divided into regions consisting of 34 administrative units including 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities directly under the jurisdiction of the central government, and 2 special administrative regions. 

The four municipalities are:

Beijing

Beijing is the capital of the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) and its abbreviation is Jing. It is positioned at the north end of the North China Plain. Its original name is Ji and was the capital city of the Yan Kingdom in the Spring, Autumn, and Warring States Periods. The Liao Dynasty selected it as the auxiliary capital with the name of Yanjing. The following dynasties of Jin, Yuan, Ming, Qing, and even the Ex-Republic of China selected it as the capital. The city has also been known as Zhongdu, Dadu, Beiping, and Beijing successively. Beijing city was established in 1928. It has 16 subordinate districts and 2 counties and is administered directly by the central government. Beijing occupies a total area of 16,800 square kilometers and has a registered permanent residence of over 11 million people (2002 census). Beijing is the political, cultural, scientific, and educational center of China.  It also serves as the transportation hub for the entire country.  Beijing is also popular with tourists, boasting cultural relics like the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Ming Tombs, Summer Palace, and the Fragrant Hills.

Shanghai

Shanghai’s abbreviation is Hu.  It is located in the middle of the east coast beside the estuary of the Yangtze River.  The ancient Shanghai is a fishing village by the shore. In the Spring and Autumn Periods, this region belonged to the Wu Kingdom. During the Warring States Periods, Sir Chun Shen of Chu Kingdom was in possession of Shanghai as fief. In the Song Dynasty, Shanghai was established as a town, and was given the name of “Shanghai”. In 1927, Shanghai became a city. Today, Shanghai is one of the 4 municipalities in China and has 18 subordinate districts and 1 county. Shanghai occupies a total area of 5,800 square kilometers. By the end of 2002, Shanghai has a registered permanent residence of 13,347,000. Shanghai is the largest city in China and one of the largest in the world.  Shanghai is the business, finance, industrial, and scientific center of China. 

Tianjin

The abbreviation for Tianjin is Jin. It is located in the northeastern part of the North China Plains, where five branches of the Hai River intersect and merge with the Bohai Sea. Tianjin, which was called Zhigu in Jin during the Yuan Dynasties, has been the traffic link of the canal. During the Ming Dynasty the government changed its name to Tianjin, meaning “emperor’s ferry”, and built a castle there. In the Qing Dynasty, Tianjin became a castellan area and formally became a city in 1928. Today, Tianjin has 15 subordinate districts and 3 counties.  It is one of the 4 municipalities and covers a total area of 11,000 square kilometers.   According to 2002 statistics, Tianjin has a registered permanent residence of 9,195,000. Tianjin is largest industrial city in the North China Plains and has rich stores of oil, gas, and sea salt. Tianjin is also an important business center and port city of North China. Tianjin also is home to many relics, including the Ning Garden, Tianhou Palace, Dagukou Emplacement, Dule Temple of Ji County, Ancient Great Wall on Huangya Pass, and the Beauty Spot of Panshan Mountain, which is regarded as “The First Mountain to the east of Beijing”.

Chongqing

The abbreviation for Chongqing is Yu. It is located in southwestern China up to the Yangtze River. Chongqing belonged to the Ba Kingdom in the Spring, Autumn and Warring States Periods. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties it belonged to Yuzhou. The Ex-Republic of China selected it as the auxiliary capital in the era of the Asia-Pacific War. In 1997, the municipality of Chongqing was founded. It consists of Chongqing city, Wanxian city, Fuling city and Qianjiang area. Chongqing municipality has 15 subordinate districts, 3 county cities, 17 counties, and 4 autonomous counties. Chongqing occupies a total area of 82,300 square kilometers. By the end of 2002, Chongqing has a registered permanent residence of 31,070,000. The municipality is an integrated industrial city, and has various tourist destinations such as the three gorges of Yangtze River, Pipa Mountain and Jinyun Mountain.

The 23 provinces are:

The 5 autonomous regions are:

The two special administrative regions are:

Hong Kong

The P.R.C. regained governance over Hong Kong in July 1, 1997 and established the city as a special administrative region.  The abbreviation for Hong Kong is Gang.  The city is located along the coastline of the South China Sea on the east of the Zhujiang River and south of Shenzhen in Guangdong province. It includes the island of Kowloon, New Territories, and other islands nearby. Hong Kong occupies a total area of 1,098.51 square kilometers. As of 2002, Hong Kong had a population of 6,815,800.

Macao

The P.R.C. regained governance over Macao on December 20, 1999 and established the city as a special administrative region.   Macao’s abbreviation is Ao.  Macao is located on an island on the west side of the Zhujiang River.  The special administrative region includes Dangzai (Taipa) Island and Luhuan Island. Macao occupies a total area of 28.5 square kilometers. As of 2002, Macao had a registered permanent residence of 442,000.

China’s Administrative Territory Division System

The Constitution of the PRC stipulates administrative areas of China are divided as follows:

(1) The whole country is divided into provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities under direct control from the Central Government.

(2) The provinces are sub-divided into autonomous prefectures, counties, autonomous counties, and cities.

(3) Counties, autonomous counties and cities are divided into townships and nationality townships. The autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures, and autonomous counties are all national autonomous areas. The central government in Beijing sets up the special administrative regions as needs warrant. At present, there are 34 provincial administrative units in China including 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government. There are 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, and 2 special administrative regions.

National Flag, National Emblem and National Anthem

National Flag

The national flag of the People’s Republic of China is a red rectangle emblazoned with five stars.

The red of the flag symbolizes revolution; the stars are yellow so that they will stand out brightly against the red ground. The larger star represents the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the four smaller ones, the Chinese people. This expresses the great unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC.

National Emblem

The pattern of the national emblem is composed of the national flag, Tiananmen Square, ears of grain and a cogwheel. These symbolize the democratic revolution of the Chinese people since the May 4th Movement of 1919 and the birth of New China under the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class on the basis of the worker-peasant alliance.
National Anthem
The National Anthem of PRC is March of the Volunteers, created in 1935 by playrwright Tian Han (lyrics), and by Nie Er (music), an initiator of the Chinese new music movement. The song was originally the theme song for a film called “Sons and Daughters of the Storm”, which describes China under the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. In it, some intellectuals overcome their indecisiveness and rush to the battlefront of the anti-Japanese resistance. When the film was screened, the song became a call for all Chinese to liberate themselves.

The lyrics are as follows:
Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves;
With our very flesh and blood
Let us build our new Great Wall!
The peoples of China are at their most critical time,
Everybody must roar defiance.
Arise! Arise! Arise!
Millions of hearts with one mind,
Brave the enemy’s gunfire,
March on!
Brave the enemy’s gunfire,
March on! March on! March on, on!

Listen: National Anthem of People’s Republic of China

On September 27, 1949, the First Plenary Session of the CPPCC unanimously adopted a resolution making “March of the Volunteers” the temporary national anthem. It was formally adopted on March 14, 2004, in the second session of 10th National People’s Congress. “March of the Volunteers” was stipulated as the Chinese National Anthem in the constitutional amendment.

The Capital: Beijing

Exercising the functions and power of the National People’s Congress (NPC), which had not yet been established, the First Plenary Session of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) adopted the Common Program of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on September 29th, 1949. During the meeting, it was decided to make Beijing the capital of the People’s Republic. On October 1st, Chairman Mao Zedong announced the establishment of the People’s Republic of China at the Tian’anmen tower. Since then, as the capital of the New China, Beijing, together with the Republic, has opened a new page in Chinese history.

China Climate

Most of China lies in the north temperate zone, characterized by a warm climate and distinctive seasons, a climate well suited for habitation. Most of China has a continental monsoon climate. From September to April the following year, the dry and cold winter monsoons blow from Siberia and the Mongolian Plateau, resulting in cold and dry winters and great differences between the temperatures of north and south China. From April to September, warm and humid summer monsoons blow from the seas in the east and south, resulting in overall high temperatures and plentiful rainfall, and little temperature difference between north and south China. In terms of temperature, the nation can be sectored from south to north into equatorial, tropical, subtropical, warm-temperate, temperate, and cold-temperate zones. Precipitation gradually declines from the southeastern to the northwestern inland area, and the average annual precipitation varies greatly from place to place. In southeastern coastal areas, it reaches over 1,500 mm, while in northwestern areas, it drops to below 200 mm.

China’s Natural resources

Natural resources are an important component of natural conditions. They include mainly land resources, water resources, climatic resources, biological resources and mineral resources. China has rich natural resources.

Being a vast country, China first of all has rich land resources. The country’s farmland covers 122,400 sq. km, about 10% of its total land area, and is distributed mainly in plain areas in northeast China, north China, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, the Sichuan Basin and the Pearl River Delta. Agriculture is highly developed in these areas, which are major producers of wheat, corn, rice and cash crops. The country has 67,500 sq. km of fresh water lakes — production bases for fish, shrimps and other aquatic products.

With regard to water resources: China’s average total rainfall in a year amounts to 6 trillion cubic meters; the total runoff of its rivers is 2.7 trillion cubic meters; and its total water resources reach 2.8 trillion cubic meters, to rank sixth in the world, after Brazil, Russia, Canada, the United States and Indonesia. Theoretical hydropower resources provided by the country’s rivers amount to 676 million kw, of Which 378 million kw can be exploited for power generation, ranking first in the world. The distribution of such hydropower resources is uneven: they are concentrated in southwest China.

China has deposits of every one of the 150 minerals found so far in the natural world. The amount of proven deposits in the country has been made clear for 135 of them. Of these, more than 20 rank in the forefront of the world. Ranking first in the world, in proven deposits, are 12 minerals: tungsten, antimony, titanium, vanadium, zinc, rare earth, magnesite, pyrite, fluorite, barite, plaster stone and graphite; ranking second and third are six: tin, mercury, asbestos, talcum, coal and molybdenum; and ranking fourth are five: nickel, lead, iron, manganese and the platinum family. China ranks third in the world in the deposit of 45 important minerals. It is one of a few countries where mineral deposits are rich and varieties are fairly complete.

China has fairly rich plant and animal resources. It is home to 32,800 higher plant varieties and 104,000 animal varieties. Among them are some that are quite rare, including the giant panda, the golden monkey, the Yangtze alligator, white-flag dolphin, the metasequoia and the dove tree – all are “living fossils” that are found nowhere else. To protect wildlife and its ecological environment, China has built a fairly big number of nature reserves, including fourteen that are part of the United Nations’ “Man and Biosphere” nature reserve system.

China also has vast tidal beach land and rich marine resources. Of its 280,000 sq. km of offcoast sea areas, 260,000 sq. km are fit for aquiculture. Its tidal beach land covers 20,800 sq. km. The country’s salt pans produce 17 million tons of salt a year, one third of the world’s total. This output ranks China as the biggest salt producer in the world. Marine fish varieties number more than 2,600, including more than 50 that are of high economic value. The country’s marine fishing Industry and aquiculture are of considerable size. In the country’s territorial waters have been found more than 20 minerals, including petroleum, natural gas, iron, copper, phosphorite and glauconite. Extraction has begun for some of them. Petroleum, for example, is being produced from the Beibu Gulf of the South China Sea and from the Bohai Sea off north China. China’s marine energy resources are estimated to reach 540 million kw. Development on a small scale has also begun. For example, tidal waves have been used to generate power.

In absolute terms, China indeed abounds in natural resources of various kinds. But, owing to its huge population, its per-capita natural resources, such as land, water and mineral resources, are not rich. Besides, the geographical distribution of its natural resources is not even. Take coal for example: of more than 760 billion tons of total coal deposits, more than 70% are concentrated in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, whereas only 1.4% is found in nine provinces in southern China. Of proven recoverable oil deposits, most are found in northeast China, northwest China and coastal areas of north China. 70% of natural gas deposits is concentrated in Sichuan and Shaanxi. The geographical distribution of water is also extremely uneven: in southern China — areas south of the Huaihe river and the Qinling range, while farmland accounts for only 36.3% of the national total, water resources make up 82.3% of the national total; whereas, in northern China, farmland accounts for 63.7% of the national total, water resources make up only 17.7% of the national total; in northwest China, water is even more scarce: while it has one third of the national land area, its water resources account for only 5% of the na tional total. The distribution of hydropower is also uneven: 70% of the national total is concentrated in southwest China. The Chinese government has been taking measures to deal with the problem. Researches on the issue have been strengthened and overall planning conducted. Concrete measures include the construction of railways to trans- port more coal from the north to the south and the building of a giant water diversion project to channel water from the Yangtze to the Yellow River to quench thirst in north China and northwest China.

China’s Rivers

There are several gorgeous and scenic rivers in China. The rivers fall into two categories: inflow and outflow. The Yangzte, Yellow, Heilongjiang, Zhu Jiang, Liaohe, Haihe, and Huaihe flow into the Pacific Ocean eastwards. The Brahmaputra River in Tibet, which is 104.6 kilometers long, flows southwards into the Indian Ocean. China also has the Brahmaputra Grand Canyon, the deepest Grand Canyon in the world at 6009 meters. The Xinjiang River flows into the Arctic Ocean northward, resulting in landlocked lakes or the creation of desert.

The Yangtze River is the longest river in China at 6300 km long. It is the third longest river in the world behind the Amazon and the Nile. The headwaters of the Yangtze are situated at an elevation of about 16,000 feet in the Kunlun Mountains in the southwestern section of Qinghai. It also has enormous and inexhaustible hydroelectric resources known as a golden water course.

The Yellow River is the second longest river in China at 5464 kilometers. The Yellow River Basin is lush and the mineral deposit abundant. It is the cradle of the ancient Chinese civilization.

Heilongjiang River is 4350 kilometers long, of which 3101 kilometers flow through the border of China.

The Zhu Jiang River is in southern China. It is 2214 kilometers long.

The river of Tarim in southern Xinjiang is the longest inland river in China, totaling 2179 kilometers in length.

Besides the natural rivers, there is a famous artificial river in China: the Jinghang Canal. It was created in the 5th century and runs from Beijing in the north to Hanzhou in the south. It links up with five major river systems including the Haihe, Yellow, Huaihe, Changjiang, and Qiantang. Its total length is 1801 kilometers and is the longest artificial river in the world.

China’s Mountains

China is fortunate to have many magnificent mountain ranges in various topographical settings. The famous mountain ranges include the Himalayas, Kunlun, Tian, Tang Gu Draw, Qinling, Daxing’an, Taihang, and the Qilian range.

The Himalayas: Along the Chinese border with countries such as India and Nepal, the Himalayas form an arc shape and extend more than 2400 kilometers with an elevation of 6000 meters. It is the tallest mountain range in the world.

The Kunlun: From the Pamir Mountain Area in the west to the northwestern part of Sichuan Province in the east, the Kunlun range is more than 2500 kilometers long and has an average elevation of 5000-7000 meters. Its highest peak is 7719 meters.

Tian Mountain Range: This range lies across the middle part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regions in the northwestern part of China. It has an elevation of 3000-5000 meters, and it’s highest peak stretches 7455 meters high.

Tang Gu La Range: Lies on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with an average elevation of 6000 meters. Its highest peak is the Geladandong at 6621 meters high. The Tang Gu La is also the source of the Yangtze River, the longest river in China.

Qinling Mountains: From eastern Gansu Province to west Henan Province, the Qinling Mountains have an average elevation of 2000-3000 meters with the highest peak, Taibai Mountain, stretching 3767 meters into the sky. It is an important boundary line between the north and south China.

Daxing’an Ling: This range begins at the Mo River near Heilongjiang Province in the northeast of China to the old river of Kazakhstan in the south. It’s 1000 kilometers long and has an average elevation of 1500 meters.The highest peak, at 2029 meters, is Huanggangliang.

Taihang: This mountain range lies across the eastern edge of Loess Plateau from north to south. It is 400 kilometers long with an average elevation of 1500-2000 meters. Xiao Wutai Mountain is the highest peak with an elevation of 2882 meters.

Qilian: The Qilian range lies on the northern border of Qingzang Plateau and has an average elevation above 4000 meters. The highest peak is 5547 meters above sea level.

Hengduan: The Hengduan range stands on the southeast corner of Qingzang Plateau at the intersection of Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan. It has an average elevation of 2000-6000 meters with Gongga Mountain its highest peak at 7756 meters.

Taiwan Range: Passing through in the east of Taiwan Island, this range has an average elevation of 3000-3500 meters. Its highest peak, Yushan, has an elevation of 3952 meters

There are many other famous mountains in China. They are: Heng, Tai, Hua, Song, Heng, Emei, Lu, Wudang, and Yandang mountains.

China Mare Clausum and Islands

China has a continental coastline of approximately 18,000 kilometers. It starts from the estuary of the Yalu River in LiaoNing Province and runs to the estuary of BeiLun River in GuangXi Province. Many excellent ports, most of which are ice-free, dot the coastline. The water bodies of China include the Bo Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea and the sea area of the Pacific Ocean east to Taiwan. The Bo Sea is the inland sea of China. The area of the Pacific Ocean east to Taiwan starts north from the Xiandao archipelago, southwest to the LiuQiu archipelago of Japan and southward to the BaShi Strait.

The sea area of China includes the internal waters and territorial sea. The area covers approximately 380,000 square kilometers. The internal waters of China are on the landward side of the coastline. The breadth of the Chinese territorial sea is a 12 nautical mile limit.

There are more than 5,000 islands and islets in the Chinese maritimes with a total area of 80,000 square meters. The coastline of the islands is about 14,000 kilometres. Taiwan（360,000 square kilometers）and HaiNan (340,000 square kilometers) are the biggest islands in the region. Northeast of Taiwan, the islands of Diaoyu and Chiwu Yu represent the eastern islands of China. The islands, reefs and beaches scattered on Nan hai are referred to as the South China Sea Islands. The south-end islands in China are called Dongsha, Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha.

China’s Topography

China is a mountainous country. The mountains, upland and plateau cover two thirds of the total area. The variety of landscape includes the high hills (33%), the plateau (26%), the basin (19%) and the plain (12%).

The Tibetan Plateau was gradually formed millions of years ago. The crust movement of the earth in that area formed the beginning of the current Chinese landscape. The surface of China is like several stages. It slopes down in steps from west to east. The Indian Ocean Plate and Eurasian Plate have forced the constant rising of Tibetan Plateau, which now averages about 4,000 meters above sea level. The “roof of the world” eventually became the first phase in China’s topography. The Himalayan Mountains are also found in this region. With a height of 8,848 meters, Mount Everest, the peak of the Himalayas, is also the highest peak in the world. The second stage consists of Inner Mongolia, Huangtu, Yungui Plateau, Tarim, Jungar and Sichuan Basin. This region has an average height of 1,000 to 2,000 meters above sea level. Across the east edge of the second stage, the area of the Daxing’an Range, Taihang Mountain, Wu Mountain and Xuefeng Mountain lie straight east to the Pacific Ocean. This area is regarded as the third stage and ranges from 500 to 1,000 meters above sea level. It runs from north to south covering the Northeast Plain, North China Plains and middle and low reaches of the Yangtze River. On the edge of the plain are low mountains and uplands. To the east, there is the Chinese continental shelf, a shallow sea area known as the fourth stage. The water here is generally less than 200 meters deep.

Chinese Territory

China, (People’s Republic of China), is situated in eastern Asia. It is bounded by the Pacific Ocean in the east and has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers. It is the third largest country in the world, next to Canada and Russia.

China’s borders begin about midstream along the Heilong River north of Mohe (53 degrees and 31 minutes north latitude) to the southernmost island Zengmu’ansha in the South China Sea (4 degrees ), about 5,500 kilometers (more than 49 degrees latitude) apart ,from the confluence of the Heilong and Wusuli rivers (135 degrees and 5 minutes east longitude) in the east; to the Pamirs (73 degrees and 40 minutes east longitude) in the west, about 5,000 kilometers (more than 60 degrees longitude) apart.

The border stretches over 22,800 kilometers. It reaches west to South Korea and south to Mongolia, southwest to Russia and southeast to Kazakhstan, Krygyzstan, Tajikistan. China also borders Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan in west and northwest and Burma, Laos, Vietnam in the south.