Due to China's large population and area, the administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times. The constitution of the People's Republic of China provides for three de jure levels of government. Currently, however, there are five practical (de facto) levels of local government: the province, prefecture, county, township, and village.

Since the seventeenth century, provincial boundaries in China have remained largely static. Major changes since then have been the reorganization of provinces in the northeast after the establishment of the People's Republic of China and the formation of autonomous regions, based on Soviet ethnic policies. The provinces serve an important cultural role in China, as people tend to identify with their native province.

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China provides for three levels: the province, county, and township. However, two more levels have been inserted in actual implementation: the prefecture, under provinces; and the village, under townships. There is a sixth level, the district public office, below counties, but it is being abolished. The People's Republic of China administers 33 province-level regions, 333 prefecture-level regions, 2,862 county-level regions, 41,636 township-level regions, and several village-level regions.

Reform of the administrative divisions of China
In recent years there have been calls to reform the administrative divisions and levels of China. Rumours of an impending major reform have also spread through various online bulletin boards.
The district public offices is an ongoing reform to remove an extra level of administration from between the county and township levels. There have also been calls to abolish the prefecture level, and some provinces have transferred some of the power prefectures currently hold to the counties they govern. There are also calls to reduce the size of the provinces. The ultimate goal is to reduce the different administration levels from five to three, (Provincial, County, Village) reducing the amount of corruption as well as the number of government workers, in order to lower the budget.

This table summarizes the divisions of the area administered by the People's Republic of China as of December 31, 2005.

Level	Name	Types
1	Province level 省级行政区	Provinces (省 shěng) (23) Autonomous regions (自治区 zìzhìqū) (5) Municipalities directly under central government (直辖市 zhíxiáshì) (4) Special administrative regions (特别行政区 tèbié xíngzhèngqū) (2)
2	Prefecture level 地级行政区	Prefectures (地区 dìqū) (17) Autonomous prefectures(自治州 zìzhìzhōu) (30) Prefecture-level municipalities/cities (地级市 dìjíshì) (283) Leagues (盟 méng) (3)
3	County level 县级行政区	Counties (县 xiàn) (1,461) Autonomous counties (自治县 zìzhìxiàn) (117) County-level cities(县级市 xiànjíshì) (370) Districts (市辖区 shìxiáqū) (853) Banners (旗 qí) (49) Autonomous banners (自治旗 zìzhìqí) (3) Forestry areas (林区 línqū) (1) Special districts (特区 tèqū) (2)
4	Township level 乡级行政区	Townships (乡 xiāng) (13379) Ethnic townships (民族乡 mínzúxiāng) (1,095) Towns(镇 zhèn) (19,410) Subdistricts(街道办事处 jiēdàobànshìchù) (6,923) District public offices(区公所 qūgōngsuǒ) (2) Sumu (苏木 sūmù) (96) Ethnic sumu (民族苏木 mínzúsūmù) (1)
5	Village level (informal) 村级自治组织	Neighborhood committees (社区居民委员会 jūmínwěiyuánhùi) () Communities (社区) Village committees (村民委员会 cūnmínwěiyuánhùi) () Administrative villages (行政村 xíngzhèngcūn) Natural villages (自然村 zìráncūn) Village groups (村民小组 cūnmínxiǎozǔ)

* Data as of December 31, 2010.

Province level

The People's Republic of China administers 33 province-level divisions, including 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two special administrative regions:
Provinces are theoretically subservient to the PRC central government, but in practice provincial officials have large discretion with regard to economic policy. Unlike the United States, the power of the central government was (with the exception of the military) not exercised through a parallel set of institutions until the early 1990s. The actual practical power of the provinces has created what some economists call federalism with Chinese characteristics.
Most of the provinces, with the exception of the provinces in the northeast, have boundaries which were established during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Sometimes provincial borders veer markedly away from cultural or geographical boundaries, a phenomenon described as "dog's teeth interlocking" . This was an attempt by the imperial government to discourage separatism and warlordism through a divide and rule policy. Nevertheless, provinces have come to serve an important cultural role in China. People tend to be identified in terms of their native provinces, and each province has a stereotype that corresponds to their inhabitants.
The most recent administrative changes have included the elevation of Hainan (1988) and Chongqing (1997) to provincial level status and the organization of Hong Kong (1997) and Macau (1999) as Special Administrative Regions.
Province level subdivisions

• 22 Provinces (省; shěng)— A standard province level subject that has a provincial committee, headed by a secretary. The committee secretary is first-in-charge of the province, rather than the governor of the provincial government.
• 5 Autonomous Regions (自治区; zīzhìqù)— A minority subject which has a higher population of a particular minority ethnic group along with its own local government, but an autonomous region theoretically has more legislative rights. In practice, they only have the right to appoint the governor (from the local minority).
• 4 Municipalities (直辖市; zhíxiáshì)— The highest level classification for cities used by Chinese governments, with status equal to that of the provinces.
• 2 Special Administrative Regions (SARs) (特别行政区; tèbiéxíngzhèngqū)— A highly autonomous and largely self-governing subnational subject of the People's Republic of China. Each SAR has a gubernatorial chief executive as head of the region and head of government. Each region's government, however, is not fully independent, as foreign policy and military defense are retained as the province of the nation and its central government.
• 1 pending-reunite Province — the island of Taiwan and its surrounding islets, including Penghu, is currently under the control of the Republic of China whose reign in mainland was overthrown by the Communist Party of China in 1949.

Provinces-level divisions of the People's Republic of China^[3]

Map #	Region	Division name	Trad.	Simp.	Pinyin	Postal	Abbr.		Type	Capital	Population¹	Density²	Area³	Divisions
1	Northwest	Xinjiang	新疆	新疆	Xīnjiāng	Sinkiang	新 xīn	CN-65	AR	Ürümqi	19,630,000	12	1,660,400	List
2	North	Inner Mongolia	內蒙古	内蒙古	Nèiměnggǔ	Mongolia	内蒙 Nèiměng	CN-15	AR	Hohhot	23,840,000	20	1,183,000	List
3	Northeast	Heilongjiang	黑龍江	黑龙江	Hēilóngjiāng	Heilungkiang	黑 hēi	CN-23	Province	Harbin	38,170,000	83	454,000	List
4	Northeast	Jilin	吉林	吉林	Jílín	Kirin	吉 jí	CN-22	Province	Changchun	27,090,000	145	187,400	List
5	Northeast	Liaoning	遼寧	辽宁	Liáoníng	Fengtien	辽 liáo	CN-21	Province	Shenyang	42,170,000	289	145,900	List
6	Southwest	Tibet	西藏	西藏	Xīzàng	Tibet	藏 zàng	CN-54	AR	Lhasa	2,740,000	2	1,228,400	List
7	Northwest	Qinghai	青海	青海	Qīnghǎi	Tsinghai	青 qīng	CN-63	Province	Xining	5,390,000	7	721,200	List
8	Northwest	Gansu	甘肅	甘肃	Gānsù	Kansu	甘 gān	CN-62	Province	Lanzhou	26,190,000	58	454,300	List
9	Northwest	Ningxia	寧夏	宁夏	Níngxià	Ningsia	宁 níng	CN-64	AR	Yinchuan	5,880,000	89	66,400	List
10	Northwest	Shaanxi	陝西	陕西	Shǎnxī	Shensi	陕 shǎn	CN-61	Province	Xi'an	37,050,000	180	205,600	List
11	North	Shanxi	山西	山西	Shānxī	Shansi	晋 jìn	CN-14	Province	Taiyuan	33,350,000	213	156,300	List
12	North	Hebei	河北	河北	Héběi	Hopeh	冀 jì	CN-13	Province	Shijiazhuang	68,090,000	363	187,700	List
13	North	Beijing	北京	北京	Běijīng	Peking	京 jīng	CN-11	Municip.		15,810,000	941	16,800	List
14	North	Tianjin	天津	天津	Tiānjīn	Tientsin	津 jīn	CN-12	Municip.		11,519,000	980	11,305	List
15	East	Shandong	山東	山东	Shāndōng	Shantung	鲁 lǔ	CN-37	Province	Jinan	91,800,000	586	153,800	List
16	South Central	Henan	河南	河南	Hénán	Honan	豫 yù	CN-41	Province	Zhengzhou	98,690,000	591	167,000	List
17	Southwest	Sichuan	四川	四川	Sìchuān	Szechuan	川 chuān	CN-51	Province	Chengdu	87,250,000	180	485,000	List
18	Southwest	Chongqing	重慶	重庆	Chóngqìng	Chungking	渝 yú	CN-50	Municip.		31,442,300	382	82,300	List
19	South Central	Hubei	湖北	湖北	Húběi	Hupeh	鄂 è	CN-42	Province	Wuhan	60,160,000	324	185,900	List
20	East	Anhui	安徽	安徽	Ānhuī	Anhwei	皖 wǎn	CN-34	Province	Hefei	64,610,000	463	139,700	List
21	East	Jiangsu	江蘇	江苏	Jiāngsū	Kiangsu	苏 sū	CN-32	Province	Nanjing	75,495,000	736	102,600	List
22	Southwest	Yunnan	雲南	云南	Yúnnán	Yunnan	滇 diān	CN-53	Province	Kunming	44,150,000	112	394,000	List
23	Southwest	Guizhou	貴州	贵州	Gùizhōu	Kweichow	黔 qián	CN-52	Province	Guiyang	39,040,000	222	176,000	List
24	South Central	Hunan	湖南	湖南	Húnán	Hunan	湘 xiāng	CN-43	Province	Changsha	66,980,000	316	210,000	List
25	East	Jiangxi	江西	江西	Jiāngxī	Kiangsi	赣 gàn	CN-36	Province	Nanchang	42,840,000	257	167,000	List
26	East	Zhejiang	浙江	浙江	Zhèjiāng	Chekiang	浙 zhè