History of the administrative divisions of China (1949–present)

Map comparing administrative divisions as drawn by current PRC and the ROC before 1946.

Claimed divisions of the PRC in 1949.

Claimed divisions of the PRC in 1950.

Claimed divisions of the PRC in 1966.

Claimed divisions of the PRC in 1979.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initially held scattered fragments of mainland China at the start of the Chinese Civil War. By the establishment of the People's Republic of China in October 1949, the CCP controlled the majority of mainland China, forcing the Republic of China government to retreat to Taiwan.

The Government of China made the following changes:

• China was divided into 6 greater administrative areas (大行政区 dà xíngzhèngqū) that came above provinces.^[1]: 13
• Manchuria was reorganized completely.
• Inner Mongolia was formed out of parts of Manchuria as the first autonomous region.
• The short-lived province Pingyuan was set up.
• Jiangsu was temporarily divided into two administrative regions: Subei and Sunan.
• Anhui was temporarily divided into two administrative regions: Wanbei and Wannan.
• Sichuan was temporarily divided into four administrative regions: Chuandong, Chuannan, Chuanxi and Chuanbei.

In 1952, the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui and Sichuan were restored. Pingyuan and Chahar were split into their surrounding provinces. Nanjing, the old capital of the Republic of China, was deprived of its municipality status and annexed by Jiangsu province. In 1953, Changchun and Harbin were elevated to municipality status.

In 1954, a massive campaign to cut the number of provincial-level divisions was initiated. Of the 14 municipalities existing in 1953, 11 were annexed by nearby provinces, with only Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin remaining. The province of Liaoning was formed out of the merger of Liaodong and Liaoxi, while Songjiang, Suiyuan and Ningxia disappeared into Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and Gansu, respectively.

The greater administrative area level was abolished in 1954.^[1]: 13 After they were abolished, various government statistics and documents continued to use them as a matter of convenience.^[1]: 13

The process continued in 1955 with Rehe being split among Hebei, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia, and Xikang disappearing into Sichuan. In that same year Xinjiang became the second autonomous region of China, and plans for a third, Tibet Autonomous Region, were initiated. Qamdo territory was put under the planned Tibet Autonomous Region.^{[citation needed]}

In 1957 two more autonomous regions were added, Ningxia (split back out of Gansu) and Guangxi (which was previously a province). In 1958 Tianjin was annexed by Hebei, leaving only two municipalities, Beijing and Shanghai. During the Great Leap Forward, townships were abolished and people's communes were introduced.^{[citation needed]}

In 1965 Tibet Autonomous Region was established out of the formerly self-governing Tibet Area, as well as the Qamdo Territory. In 1967 Tianjin was split back out as a municipality. In 1969, as part of the Cultural Revolution, Inner Mongolia was truncated; Hulunbuir was ceded to Heilongjiang, Jirim to Jilin, Juuuda to Liaoning, and the Alxa League split between Ejin Banner going to Gansu and the Alashan Region to Ningxia. This was reversed in 1979.^{[citation needed]}

Starting in the 1980s, prefecture-level cities and county-level cities began to appear in very large numbers, usually by replacing entire prefectures and counties. People's communes ceased to exist due to the 1982 constitution and were replaced by townships.^[2] Hainan and some other islands were split out of Guangdong and set up as a Hainan Province in 1988.

In 1997, Chongqing became the fourth municipality of China.^{[citation needed]} In that same year Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule and became the first special administrative region. Macau became the second in 1999.

In the 1990s, there was a campaign to abolish district public offices as a level. By 2004 very few remained.^{[citation needed]}

In the meantime, most prefectures have become prefecture-level cities.

  abolished   present   claimed

Beijing

Tianjin

Hebei
Shijiazhuang

Shanxi
Taiyuan

Inner Mongolia AR
Hohhot

Liaoning
Shenyang

Jilin
Changchun

Heilongjiang
Harbin

Shanghai

Jiangsu
Nanjing

Zhejiang
Hangzhou

Anhui
Hefei

Fujian
Fuzhou

Taiwan
Taibei

Jiangxi
Nanchang

Shandong
Jinan

Henan
Zhengzhou

Hubei
Wuhan

Hunan
Changsha

Guangdong
Guangzhou

Guangxi Zhuang AR
Nanning

Hainan
Haikou

Chongqing

Sichuan
Chengdu

Guizhou
Guiyang

Yunnan
Kunming

Tibet AR
Lhasa

Shaanxi
Xi'an

Gansu
Lanzhou

Qinghai
Xining

Ningxia Hui AR
Yinchuan

Xinjiang Uygur AR
Ürümqi

Hong Kong
SAR

Macao
SAR

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Provincial-level administrative divisions and capitals of China
Legend: Capital Direct-administered municipality East South West North Central Special Administrative Region (SAR)

• Administrative divisions of China

• Summary of terms Archived 2013-04-26 at the Wayback Machine
• Historical map scans - maps of various sheng, dao, fu, ting, and xian of the late Qing era.
• The province in history by John Fitzgerald