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| District | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 区 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 區 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 市辖区 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 市轄區 | ||||||
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| Tibetan name | |||||||
| Tibetan | ཆུས། | ||||||
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| Zhuang name | |||||||
| Zhuang | Gih | ||||||
| Korean name | |||||||
| Hangul | 구 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Mongolian name | |||||||
| Mongolian Cyrillic | ᠲᠣᠭᠣᠷᠢᠭ | ||||||
| |||||||
| Uyghur name | |||||||
| Uyghur | رايون | ||||||
| |||||||
| Manchu name | |||||||
| Manchu script | ᠴᡳᠣᡳ | ||||||
| Möllendorff | cioi | ||||||
| Kazakh name | |||||||
| Kazakh | رايون район raion | ||||||
| Kyrghyz name | |||||||
| Kyrghyz | رايون район rajon | ||||||
| Administrative divisions of China |
|---|
Analogous county level units Management areas Management committee |
Townships Subdistricts County-controlled districts (pilot) |
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 |
The termdistrict, in the context ofChina, is used to refer to several unrelated political divisions in both ancient and modern China.
In the modern context,district (区), formallycity-governed district,city-controlled district, ormunicipal district (市辖区), are subdivisions of amunicipality or aprefecture-level city. The rank of a district derives from the rank of its city. Districts of a municipality areprefecture-level; districts of asub-provincial city are sub-prefecture-level; and districts of a prefecture-level city arecounty-level.
The term was also formerly used to refer to obsoletecounty-controlled districts (also known asdistrict public office).
However, if the worddistrict is encountered in the context of ancientChinese history, then it is a translation forxian, another type of administrative division in China.
Before the 1980s, cities inChina were administrative divisions containing mostly urban, built-up areas, with very little farmland, except for the immediatesuburbs in order to ensure a large supply of food or raw materials. As a result, districts were also mostly urban or suburban in nature.
After the 1980s,prefectures began to be replaced withprefecture-level cities. From then on, "cities" in mainland China became just like any other administrative division, containing urban areas, towns, villages, and farmland. These cities are subdivided into districts,counties,autonomous counties, andcounty-level cities. At the same time, counties and county-level cities began to be replaced with districts, especially after 1990. From then onwards, districts were no longer strictly urban entities—some districts today are just like counties, with largetowns andtownships under them governing rural areas.
A regular district under amunicipality orprefecture-level city.[a]
A type of city districts that are specially created forethnic minorities. Currently there are five such "ethnic districts": three inHenan, one inHeilongjiang, and one inInner Mongolia.
One county-level special district, located inGuizhou.
One special sub-prefectural-level forestry district, located inHubei.
| District | Population (2010 census) |
|---|---|
| Pudong, Shanghai | 5,044,430 |
| Bao'an, Shenzhen | 4,017,807 |
| Chaoyang, Beijing | 3,545,137 |
| Haidian, Beijing | 3,280,670 |
| Nanhai, Foshan | 2,588,844 |
| Binhai, Tianjin | 2,482,065 |
| Shunde, Foshan | 2,461,701 |
| Minhang, Shanghai | 2,429,372 |
| Baiyun, Guangzhou | 2,223,150 |
| Fengtai, Beijing | 2,112,162 |
Acounty-controlled district, sometimes translated ascounty-governed district;county district; orsub-county (Chinese:县辖区，区; pinyin:Xiànxiáqū, Qū) is a sub-county in China. A branch of a county government, adistrict public office (Chinese:区公所; pinyin:Qū gōngsuǒ) is the administrative office in a district; it is not alocal government. A county-controlled district was once an important subdivision of acounty all over China from the 1950s to 1990s. It was common for there to be about five to ten districts in a county, then about three to five towns and townships in a district. After the 1990s, county-controlled districts began to be phased out, and their role was taken over by largertowns ortownships created by merging smaller ones.
At the end of 2014, there was just one county-controlled district left in China:
(SeeAdministrative divisions of China for how these two types of districts fit into the general administrative hierarchy of mainland China.)
If the word "district" is encountered in the context of ancientChinese history, then the word is a translation forxian, another type of administrative division in China.[dubious –discuss][citation needed]
Xian has been translated using severalEnglish terms. In the context of ancient history, "district" and "prefecture" are commonly used, while "county" is used for more contemporary contexts.
(SeeCounties of China for more information on thexian of China.)