Direct-controlled municipalities of China

Municipality[1] 直辖市 Zhíxiáshì
Category	First-level administration Unitary state
Location	People's Republic of China
Number	4 (#1 Beijing; #2 Tianjin; #3 Chongqing; #4 Shanghai)
Populations	12,938,224 (Tianjin) – 28,846,170 (Chongqing)
Areas	2,448.1 square miles (6,341 km2) (Shanghai) – 31,816 square miles (82,400 km2) (Chongqing)
Government	Dual-Party government
Subdivisions	District, county, autonomous county

A municipality (simplified Chinese: 直辖市; traditional Chinese: 直轄市; pinyin: zhíxiáshì), also translated as direct-controlled municipality (formally, municipality directly under the central government, or province-level municipality), is the highest level of classification for cities used by the People's Republic of China. These cities have the same rank as provinces, and form part of the first tier of administrative divisions of China.

A municipality is a "city" (Chinese: 市; pinyin: shì) with "provincial" (Chinese: 省级; pinyin: shěngjí) power under a unified jurisdiction. As such it is simultaneously a city and a province of its own right.

A municipality is often not a "city" in the usual sense of the term (i.e., a large continuous urban settlement), but instead an administrative unit comprising, typically, a main central urban area (a city in the usual sense, usually with the same name as the municipality), and its much larger surrounding rural area containing many smaller cities (districts and subdistricts), towns and villages. The larger municipality spans over 100 kilometres (62 mi). To distinguish a "municipality" from its actual urban area (the traditional meaning of the word city), the term Chinese: 市区, or "urban area", is used.

History

The first municipalities were the 11 cities of Nanjing, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Chongqing, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Hankou (now part of Wuhan), Shenyang, and Harbin when the ROC government ruled China. They were established in 1927 soon after they were designated as "cities" during the 1920s. Nominally, Dalian was a municipality as well, although it was under Japanese control. These cities were first called special municipalities/cities (特别市; 特別市; tébiéshì), but were later renamed Yuan-controlled municipalities (院辖市; 院轄市; yuànxiáshì), then direct-controlled municipalities (直辖市; 直轄市; zhíxiáshì) by the Central Government.

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Anshan, Benxi, and Fushun were also made municipalities, while Qingdao, Dalian, and Harbin were reduced to provincial municipalities.^[2] Hankou was merged into Wuhan. Hence, there remained 12 municipalities, until Dalian was elevated in 1950. In November 1952, Nanjing was reduced to a provincial municipality.^[3] In July 1953, Harbin was restored to municipality status, along with Changchun.^[4] Except Beijing and Tianjin, which were under central control, all other municipalities were governed by the greater administrative areas.

In June 1954, 11 of the 14 municipalities were reduced to sub-provincial cities; many of them became capitals of the provinces they were in. Only Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin remained municipalities, until Chongqing was restored as a municipality in 1997 with a much enlarged area. Tianjin was also temporarily reverted to sub-provincial city status around the 1960s.

Position in hierarchy

Municipalities are the highest-ranked cities in the PRC. Some cities of lower levels may also refer to themselves as municipalities in the English language.

Three levels of cities in the People's Republic of China:

1. Municipalities (直辖市; 直轄市; zhíxiáshì);
2. Prefecture-level cities (地级市; 地級市; dìjíshì), including sub-provincial cities; and,
3. County-level cities (县级市; 縣級市; xiànjíshì), including sub-prefecture-level cities.

Administration

In municipalities, the highest ranking government official is the Mayor. The mayor is also a delegate in the National People's Congress (the legislature)^[5] and Deputy Secretary of the CPC Municipal Committee. However, the highest administrative authority in the municipality belongs to the Secretary of the CPC Municipal Committee or Party Secretary.

Current PRC Municipalities

Former ROC and PRC municipalities

See also

• Independent city
• Imperial immediacy

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Municipalities in China.

Provincial-level divisions of the People's Republic of China
Provinces	Anhui Fujian Gansu Guangdong Guizhou Hainan Hebei Heilongjiang Henan Hubei Hunan Jiangsu Jiangxi Jilin Liaoning Qinghai Shaanxi Shandong Shanxi Sichuan Yunnan Zhejiang
Autonomous regions	Guangxi Inner Mongolia Ningxia Tibet Xinjiang
Municipalities	Beijing Chongqing Shanghai Tianjin
Special administrative regions	Hong Kong¹ Macau¹
Other	Taiwan¹
Note: Taiwan is claimed by the People's Republic of China but administered by the Republic of China (see Political status of Taiwan). Hong Kong and Macau are claimed as provincial-level divisions, but as listed on the constitutional documents and joint declarations their statuses are better to be interpreted as first-level divisions instead.