Direct-administered municipality
A direct-administered municipality, commonly known as a municipality,'' is a provincial-level administrative division in China. The municipalities are directly affiliated with the central government of China. Although a city by name, a Chinese municipality is more than a city in a traditional sense. It is equivalent to a province as it is usually composed of a central urban area and a number of much larger surrounding suburban and rural areas. There are four such municipalities in China: Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Tianjin.
History
During the Republic of China, the first municipalities were the 11 cities of Nanjing, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Chongqing, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Hankou, Shenyang, and Harbin. 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, but were later renamed Yuan-controlled municipalities, then direct-controlled municipalities by the Central Government of the People's Republic of China.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. Hankou was merged into Wuhan, which became a municipality of its own. Hence, there remained 12 municipalities. In November 1952, Nanjing was reduced to a provincial municipality in Jiangsu. In March 1953, Lüda, which had resulted from the merger of Dalian and Lüshun in December 1950, was made a municipality. In July 1953, Harbin was restored to municipality status, whereas Changchun acquired that status for the first time. 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 between 1958 and 1967.
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:
- Municipalities ;
- Prefecture-level cities, including sub-provincial cities; and,
- County-level cities, including sub-prefectural cities.
Administration