A prefecture-level city (simplified Chinese: 地级市; traditional Chinese: 地級市; pinyin: Dìjíshì) or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. It usually consists of multiple sub-prefecture-level cities or towns and the surrounding countryside.
Details During the Republican era, many of China's prefectural cities were designated as counties as the country's second level division below a province. From 1949 to 1983, the official term was a province-administrated city (Chinese: 省辖市). Prefectural level cities form the second level of the administrative structure (alongside prefectures, leagues and autonomous prefectures). Administrative chiefs (mayors) of prefectural level cities generally have the same rank as a division chief (Chinese: 司长) of a national ministry. Since the 1980s, most former prefectures have been renamed into prefecture-level cities. A prefectural city is a "city" (Chinese: 市; pinyin: shì) and a "prefecture" (Chinese: 地区; pinyin: dìqū) that have been merged into one consolidated and unified jurisdiction. As such it is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal entry with subordinate districts, and a prefecture, with subordinate county-level cities and counties, as well as an administrative division of a province. A prefectural city is often not a "city" in the literal sense of the term (i.e., a large continuous urban settlement), but instead an administrative unit comprising, typically, a main central urban area (the core city, city as in the usual sense, usually but not always with the same name as the prefectural level city) surrounded by rural areas or small towns, which together are divided into districts, and some surrounding counties or county-level cities governed by the prefecture-level city on behalf of the province, which all have their own urban areas surrounded by their own rural areas. The urban areas of the surrounding counties are usually smaller than the core urban area, and towns also form small urban areas scattered in the rural. The larger prefectural cities span over 100 kilometres (62 mi). Prefectural cities nearly always contain multiple counties, county level cities, and other such sub-divisions. This results from the fact that the formerly predominant prefectures, which prefectural cities have mostly replaced, were themselves large administrative units containing cities, smaller towns, and rural areas. To distinguish a prefectural city from its actual urban area (city in the strict sense), the term shìqū (市区; "urban area"), is used. The first prefectural cities were created on 5 November 1983. Over the following two decades, prefectural cities have come to replace the vast majority of Chinese prefectures; the process is still ongoing. Most provinces are composed entirely or nearly entirely of prefectural cities. Of the 22 provinces and five autonomous regions of the PRC, only nine provinces (Yunnan, Guizhou, Qinghai, Heilongjiang, Sichuan, Gansu, Jilin, Hubei, and Hunan) and three autonomous regions (Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia) have at least one or more second level or prefectural level divisions that are not prefectural cities. Criteria that a prefecture must meet to become a prefectural level city:
An urban centre with a non-rural population over 250,000 gross output of value of industry of 200,000,000 RMB (US$32 million) the output of the tertiary sector supersedes that of the primary sector, contributing over 35% of the GDP Fifteen large prefectural level cities have been granted the status of sub-provincial city, which gives them much greater autonomy. Shijiazhuang, Suzhou, and Zhengzhou are the largest prefectural level cities with populations approaching or exceeding some sub-provincial cities. A sub-prefecture-level city is a county-level city with powers approaching those of prefectural level cities.
Classification There are a total of three classifications of prefecture-level cities:
Regular prefectural level city, which consists of counties, county level cities, and districts subdivisions. Consolidated district-governed prefectural level city, which only consists of districts as subdivisions. Currently there are only 13 cities under this classification: Ezhou, Foshan, Guangzhou, Haikou, Karamay, Nanjing, Sansha, Sanya, Shenzhen, Wuhai, Wuhan, Xiamen, and Zhuhai Prefectural level city with no county-level divisions (direct-piped city), which are cities that do not govern any county-level divisions such as counties, county level cities, or legal administrative districts. Currently there are only four cities under this classification: Danzhou, Dongguan, Jiayuguan, and Zhongshan
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