A sub-prefectural municipality (), sub-prefectural city, or vice-prefectural municipality, is an unofficial designation for a type of administrative division of China. A sub-prefectural city is officially considered to be a
county-level city, but it has more power ''de facto'' because the cadres assigned to its government are one half-level higher in rank than those of an "ordinary" county-level city—though still lower than those of a
prefecture-level city
A prefecture-level city () 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.
During the Republican era, many of China' ...
.
While county-level cities are under the administrative jurisdiction of prefecture-level divisions, sub-prefectural cities are often (but not always) administered directly by the provincial government, with no intervening prefecture level administration.
Examples of sub-prefectural cities that does not belong to any prefecture:
Jiyuan
Jiyuan () is a sub-prefecture-level city in northwestern Henan province, People's Republic of China. It borders the prefecture-level cities of Jiaozuo and Luoyang to the east and southwest respectively, as well as the province of Shanxi to the n ...
(
Henan
Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
Province),
Xiantao
Xiantao () is a sub-prefecture-level city in the east of Hubei province, China. Located at the Jianghan Plain in the middle of Hubei province and spanning 112°55' – 113°49' east longitude and 30°04' – 30°32' north latitude, Xiantao City c ...
,
Qianjiang and
Tianmen
Tianmen () is a sub-prefecture-level city (sometimes considered a county-level city) in central Hubei Province, China.
It is on the Jianghan Plain, on the west side of Wuhan (the biggest city of Central China, as well as the capital of Hubei) ...
(
Hubei
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...
),
Shihezi
Shihezi is a sub-prefecture-level city in Northern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has a population of 380,130 according to the 2010 census. The city is also home to Shihezi University, the second-largest comprehensive university under ...
,
Tumxuk
TumxukThe official spelling according to , (Beijing, '' SinoMaps Press'' 1997); is a sub-prefecture-level city in the western part of Xinjiang, China. The eastern part of Tumxuk is surrounded by Maralbexi County, Kashgar Prefecture. The smalle ...
,
Aral, and
Wujiaqu
Wujiaqu is a sub-prefecture-level city in the northern part of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, about north of Ürümqi.
Demographics
As of 2015, 89,695 (96.4%) of the 93,058 residents of the city were Han Chinese, 1,926 (2.1%) were Hui ...
(
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
).
Examples of sub-prefectural cities that nevertheless belong to a prefecture:
Golmud
Golmud, also known by various other romanizations, is a county-level city in the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, China. It is now the second-largest city in Qinghai and the third largest in the Tibetan Pl ...
(
Haixi,
Qinghai
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...
),
Manzhouli
Manzhouli (; mn, Манжуур хот; ) is a sub-prefectural city located in Hulunbuir prefecture-level city, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. Located on the border with Russia, it is a major land port of entry. It has an area of and ...
(
Hulunbuir
Hulunbuir or Hulun Buir ( mn, , ''Kölün buyir'', Mongolian Cyrillic: Хөлөнбуйр, ''Khölönbuir''; zh, s=呼伦贝尔, ''Hūlúnbèi'ěr'') is a region that is governed as a prefecture-level city in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. ...
,
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
).
List of sub-prefectural divisions
:Note
: Bold not under any prefecture-level subordination
Guangdong
*
Gaozhou
Gaozhou is a county-level city in southwestern Guangdong Province, China. Formerly the primary city in the area, it is now administered as part of the prefecture-level city of Maoming. As of the 20210 census, Gaozhou had a population of 1,32 ...
*
Lufeng
*
Luoding
Luoding, alternately romanized as Loting, is a county-level city in the northwestern part of Guangdong province (粤北), South China. It is administered as part of the prefecture-level city of Yunfu.
History
As early as 10,000 years ago, ther ...
*
Nanxiong
Nanxiong (), historically Namyung, Namhung, and Nanhsiung, is a county-level city of northern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, bordering Jiangxi to the north, east and southeast. It is under the administration of Guangdong
Gua ...
*
Puning
Puning (; postal: Puning) is a county-level city in the municipal region of Jieyang, in the southeast of Guangdong Province, China.
Economy
Puning's main industries include: citrus, Plum, clothing, traditional Chinese medicine and so on. The sp ...
*
Yangchun
Yangchun, alternately romanized as Yeungchun, is a county-level city in southwestern Guangdong, China, administered as a part of the prefecture-level city of Yangjiang. Yangchun has an area of and had approximately 1.05 million inhabitants in ...
*
Yingde
Yingde ( postal: Yingtak; ) is a historical city in the north of Guangdong Province, China. The city is on the Bei River, a tributary of the Pearl River. Administratively, it is part of the Qingyuan prefecture-level city.
The principal varietie ...
Guizhou
*
Renhuai
Renhuai () is a county-level city located in the north of Guizhou province, China, bordering Sichuan province to the west. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zunyi
Zunyi () is a prefecture-level city in northern Gui ...
Hainan
*
Dongfang
*
Qionghai
Qionghai, or in local Hainanese dialect as Kheng Hai, is one of the seven county-level cities of Hainan province, China. Although Administrative divisions of China#Ambiguity of the word "city" in China, called a "city", Qionghai refers to a large ...
*
Wanning
Wanning or in local Hainanese dialect as Ban Ning is a county-level city in the southeast of Hainan Province, China. Although called a "city", Wanning refers to both the county seat and to the entire county as a whole. The county-wide area h ...
*
Wenchang
Wenchang ( postal: Mencheong; ) is a county-level city in the northeast of Hainan province, China. Although called a "city", Wenchang refers to a large land area in Hainan - an area which was once a county. The urban center and the seat of govern ...
*
Wuzhishan
Hebei
*
Dingzhou
Dingzhou, or Tingchow in Postal Map Romanization, and formerly called Ding County or Dingxian, is a county-level city in the prefecture-level city of Baoding, Hebei Province. As of 2009, Dingzhou had a population of 1.2 million. Dingzhou has 3 ...
*
Qian'an
*
Xinji
Heilongjiang
*
Suifenhe
Suifenhe () is a county-level city in southeastern Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, located where the former Chinese Eastern Railway crosses the border with Russia's town of Pogranichny, Primorsky Krai. In January 2014, Suife ...
Henan
*
Dengzhou
*
Gongyi
Gongyi (), formerly Gong County (), is a county-level city of Henan Province, South Central China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhengzhou. It has a population of 790,000 people and an area of .
City
Gongyi is lo ...
*
Jiyuan
Jiyuan () is a sub-prefecture-level city in northwestern Henan province, People's Republic of China. It borders the prefecture-level cities of Jiaozuo and Luoyang to the east and southwest respectively, as well as the province of Shanxi to the n ...
*
Ruzhou
*
Yongcheng
Yongcheng () is county-level city in Henan province, China, and is the easternmost county-level division of the province, bordering Anhui province on all sides except the northwest and due north. Yongcheng has significant coal deposits and some ins ...
Hubei
*
Qianjiang
*
Tianmen
Tianmen () is a sub-prefecture-level city (sometimes considered a county-level city) in central Hubei Province, China.
It is on the Jianghan Plain, on the west side of Wuhan (the biggest city of Central China, as well as the capital of Hubei) ...
*
Xiantao
Xiantao () is a sub-prefecture-level city in the east of Hubei province, China. Located at the Jianghan Plain in the middle of Hubei province and spanning 112°55' – 113°49' east longitude and 30°04' – 30°32' north latitude, Xiantao City c ...
Hunan
*
Shaoshan
Shaoshan () is a county-level city in Hunan Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xiangtan. Qingxi Town is its seat.
Located on the mid-eastern Hunan and the mid-north of Xiangtan, Shaoshan is bordered by ...
Inner Mongolia
*
Erenhot
Erenhot ( mn, ; , commonly shortened to Ereen or Erlian) is a county-level city of the Xilin Gol League, in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, located in the Gobi Desert along the Sino-Mongolian border, across from the Mongolian town of Zam ...
*
Manzhouli
Manzhouli (; mn, Манжуур хот; ) is a sub-prefectural city located in Hulunbuir prefecture-level city, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. Located on the border with Russia, it is a major land port of entry. It has an area of and ...
Jiangsu
*
Kunshan
Kunshan is a county-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province with Shanghai bordering its eastern border and Suzhou on its western boundary. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Suzhou.
Name
There is a strong pos ...
*
Taixing
Taixing () is a county-level city under the administration of Taizhou, Jiangsu province, China. It is located in the Yangtze River Delta, bordering the prefecture-level cities of Nantong to the east, Changzhou to the southwest, and Zhenjiang to th ...
Jiangxi
*
Fengcheng
*
Gongqingcheng
Gongqingcheng () is a sub-prefecture-level city in northern Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China, established on 10 September 2010. It was formerly under the administration of Jiujiang City, the downtown to the northeast, and is located ...
*
Ruijin
Jilin
*
Gongzhuling
Gongzhuling () is a county-level city under the administration of Changchun. It is located in central Jilin province of Northeast China, halfway between Siping and Changchun, along the main railway line in the Northeast. Major employers in the ci ...
*
Meihekou
Meihekou () is a city of 600,000 in Jilin province, People's Republic of China. It is a regional transport hub, connecting three railway lines, all of which are single track, and 2 national highways. The city is also a major lorry transshipment po ...
Qinghai
*
Golmud
Golmud, also known by various other romanizations, is a county-level city in the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, China. It is now the second-largest city in Qinghai and the third largest in the Tibetan Pl ...
Shaanxi
*
Hancheng
Hancheng () is a city in Shaanxi Province, People's Republic of China, about 125 miles northeast of Xi'an, at the point where the south-flowing Yellow River enters the Guanzhong Plain. It is a renowned historic city, containing numerous historic ...
Xinjiang
:Note
: all cities are also under the subordination of the Prefecture-level
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps
The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (), also known as XPCC or Bingtuan ("The Corps"), is a state-owned economic and Paramilitary forces of China, paramilitary organization in China, China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). ...
(XPCC or Bingtuan).
*
Aral
*
Beitun
*
Huyanghe
*
Kokdala
*
Kunyu
*
Shihezi
Shihezi is a sub-prefecture-level city in Northern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has a population of 380,130 according to the 2010 census. The city is also home to Shihezi University, the second-largest comprehensive university under ...
*
Shuanghe
Shuanghe is a county-level city in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. It is located east of Bole City and southwest of Alashankou and the border with Kazakhstan. Shuanghe governs an area of and has a population of ...
*
Tiemenguan
*
Tumxuk
TumxukThe official spelling according to , (Beijing, '' SinoMaps Press'' 1997); is a sub-prefecture-level city in the western part of Xinjiang, China. The eastern part of Tumxuk is surrounded by Maralbexi County, Kashgar Prefecture. The smalle ...
*
Wujiaqu
Wujiaqu is a sub-prefecture-level city in the northern part of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, about north of Ürümqi.
Demographics
As of 2015, 89,695 (96.4%) of the 93,058 residents of the city were Han Chinese, 1,926 (2.1%) were Hui ...
*
Xinxing
Zhejiang
*
Yiwu
Yiwu () is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Jinhua in Central Zhejiang Province, East China. As of the 2020 census, the city had 1,859,390 inhabitants and its built-up (or metro) area, joined with that of the neighboring Dongy ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sub-Prefectural City
Administrative divisions of China
*Sub
County-level divisions of the People's Republic of China