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| Prefecture 地区 Dìqū | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Category | Second leveladministrative division of aunitary state |
| Location | China |
| Number | 7 prefectures |
| Populations | 95,465 (Ngari) – 3,979,362 (Kaxgar) |
| Areas | 46,755 km2 (18,052 sq mi) (Daxing'anling) – 304,683 km2 (117,639 sq mi) (Ngari) |
| Government |
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| Subdivisions | |
| Prefecture | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 地区 | ||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 地區 | ||||||||||||||
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| Tibetan name | |||||||||||||||
| Tibetan | ས་ཁུལ། | ||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese | Địa khu | ||||||||||||||
| Zhuang name | |||||||||||||||
| Zhuang | Dagih | ||||||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 지구 | ||||||||||||||
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| Mongolian name | |||||||||||||||
| Mongolian Cyrillic | дугарг | ||||||||||||||
| Mongolian script | ᠲᠣᠭᠣᠷᠢᠭ | ||||||||||||||
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| Uyghur name | |||||||||||||||
| Uyghur | ۋىلايەت | ||||||||||||||
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| Manchu name | |||||||||||||||
| Manchu script | ᡳ ᠪᠠ | ||||||||||||||
| Möllendorff | i'ba | ||||||||||||||
| Kazakh name | |||||||||||||||
| Kazakh | ايماق аймақ aimaq | ||||||||||||||
| Kyrgyz name | |||||||||||||||
| Kyrgyz | ايماق аймак ajmaq | ||||||||||||||
| Administrative divisions of China |
|---|
Analogous county level units Management areas Management committee |
Analogous township level units Management areas Management committee Farms area (Overseas Chinese Farm Region [zh]),Prison area,University towns, etc. |
(Grassroots Autonomous Organizations) Villages · Gaqa · Ranches Residential Committees |
History:before 1912,1912–49,1949–present Administrative division codes |
Prefectures are one of four types ofprefecture-level divisions inChina, the second-leveladministrative division in the country. While at one time[when?] prefectures were the most common prefecture-level division, they are in the process of being abolished[when?] and only seven formally-designated prefectures remain.
Prefectures are administrative subdivisions ofprovincial-level divisions. The constitution of the People's Republic of China does not endorse any prefecture-level division, except for autonomous prefectures. Prefectures and leagues are not at all mentioned; provinces are explicitly stated to be divided directly into counties.
The administrative commission (Chinese:行政公署;pinyin:xíngzhèng gōngshǔ) is an administrative branch office with the rank of a national ministerial department (司级) and dispatched by the higher-level provincial government. The leader of the prefecture government, titled as prefectural administrative commissioner (行政公署专员;xíngzhèng gōngshǔ zhūanyūan), is appointed by the provincial government. Instead of localpeople's congresses, the prefecture's working commission of the standing committee of the provincial people's congress is dispatched and supervises the prefecture governments but can not elect or dismiss prefecture governments.[1] The prefecture's working committee of the provincial committee of theChinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPCC) is a part of the prefecture's committee of the CPPCC. This means that the prefecture's working committee of the CPPCC is a branch of the provincial committee of the CPPCC, not an individual society entity. The same is valid for provincial CPPCCs, which are formally sections of the national CPPCC.
The term "prefecture" derives from the formercircuit, which was a level between provinces and the counties during theQing dynasty. In 1928, the government of theRepublic of China abolished circuits and provinces began to administer counties directly; however, this reform was soon found unfeasible because some provinces had hundreds of counties. Consequently, in 1932, provinces were again subdivided into several prefectures, and regional administrative offices were set up.
| Name | Chinese | Provincial-level region | Population (2010) | Area (km2) | Prefecture seat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daxing'anling Prefecture | 大兴安岭地区 | Heilongjiang | 511,564 | 46,755 | Jiagedaqi District(de facto);Mohe city(de jure) |
| Ngari Prefecture | 阿里地区 | Tibet | 95,465 | 304,683 | Sênggêzangbo town,Gar County |
| Altay Prefecture | 阿勒泰地区 | Xinjiang | 603,280 | 117,988 | Altay city |
| Tacheng Prefecture | 塔城地区 | Xinjiang | 1,219,212 | 94,891 | Tacheng city |
| Kashgar Prefecture | 喀什地区 | Xinjiang | 3,979,362 | 112,058 | Kashgar city |
| Aksu Prefecture | 阿克苏地区 | Xinjiang | 2,370,887 | 128,099 | Aksu city |
| Hotan Prefecture | 和田地区 | Xinjiang | 2,014,365 | 248,946 | Hotan city |
In general, the word "prefecture" is applied toxian for the period before theSui andTang dynasties; for the period after,xian are called "districts" or "counties", while "prefectures" refer tozhou andfu.
Xian (县/縣) were first established during theWarring 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 severalEnglish 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.
Zhou (州) were first established during theHan dynasty, and were abolished only with the establishment of theRepublic of China.
Zhou is generally translated as "province" or "region" for the period before theSui dynasty, and "prefecture" for the period from the Sui dynasty onwards.
ThePeople's Republic of China has revived the wordzhou as part of the term "zizhizhou" (自治州), which is translated as "autonomous prefectures", as described above.
Fu (府) were first established during the Tang dynasty, and were also abolished with the establishment of the Republic of China.
During the Tang andSong dynasties, the term was mainly applied to prefectures with major urban centers. For this period, it is often translated as "urban prefecture" or "superior prefecture". Later, however, most first-level prefectures under provinces would become known asfu.