A subdistrict ()' is one of the smaller
administrative divisions
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. It is a form of
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
-level division which is typically part of a larger urban area, as opposed to a discrete
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
(zhèn, 镇) surrounded by rural areas, or a rural
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
(xiāng, 乡).
In general, urban areas are divided into subdistricts and a subdistrict is sub-divided into several
residential communities or
neighbourhood
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural are ...
s as well as into villagers' groups (居民区/居住区, 小区/社区, 村民小组).
The subdistrict's administrative agency is the subdistrict office ()
["【街道办事处】 jiēdào bànshìchù 市辖区、不设区的市的人民政府派出机关。在上一级政府领导下，负责本辖区内的社区服务、经济发展、社会治安等工作。" ] or simply the jiedao ban (街道办, jiēdào bàn). Because of the influence of the literal meaning of the Chinese word for 'subdistrict' (street
道, jiedao, the term is prone to alternative translations like 'street community'.
See also
* (社区, ''Shequ'') — ''residential neighborhood subdivisions administrated by subdistricts''.
Notes
References
01
.
Administrative divisions of China
{{PRChina-geo-stub