A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a
county-level administrative division of the
People's Republic of China. County-level cities have
judicial but no
legislative rights over their own
local law
A local ordinance is a law issued by a local government. such as a municipality, county, parish, prefecture, or the like.
China
In Hong Kong, all laws enacted by the territory's Legislative Council remain to be known as ''Ordinances'' () a ...
and are usually governed by
prefecture-level divisions, but a few are governed directly by
province-level divisions.
A county-level city is a "city" () and "county" () that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction. As such it is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal entity and a county which is an administrative division of a prefecture. Most county-level cities were created in the 1980s and 1990s by replacing denser populated
counties.
County-level cities are not "
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...
" in the strictest sense of the word, since they usually contain rural areas many times the size of their urban, built-up area. This is because the counties that county-level cities have replaced are themselves large administrative units containing
towns,
villages and farmland. To distinguish a "county-level city" from its actual urban area (the traditional meaning of the word "city"), the term "" (shìqū) or "urban area", is used.
Comparable territorial divisions in other countries
In
France, an equivalent of a county-level city is an
agglomeration community.
While the idea of a "city" being a unit consisting of several "towns" is not a common one in
English-speaking world, a somewhat similar naming convention is used for
local government areas
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory.
The phra ...
in some parts of Australia.
For example,
in New South Wales such a unit may often be called a "city" (rather than a traditional "shire"), and consist of "towns". E.g.
City of Blue Mountains
The City of Blue Mountains is a local government area of New South Wales, Australia, governed by the Blue Mountains City Council. The city is located in the Blue Mountains range west of Sydney.
The Mayor of Blue Mountains City Council is coun ...
is made of a number of towns (
Katoomba,
Springwood, etc.).
Another example would be "municipal government" in the Canadian province of Ontario. Small municipalities (cities) and towns, along with urban, sub-urban and rural areas were merged or integrated into a "super" area, in part to obtain economies in administrative overhead by not having for each city and town individual library commissions, fire fighting units, health care, and other social services common to all areas.
List
As of February 2022, there are 397 county-level cities in total:
Sub-prefectural cities
A
sub-prefectural city is a county-level city with powers approaching those of
prefecture-level cities
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 Chin ...
. Examples include,
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 ...
(
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 ...
),
Qianjiang (
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 ...
),
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 ...
) and
Jiyuan (
Henan).
See also
*
Administrative divisions of China
The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there a ...
*
Counties of the People's Republic of China
Counties ( zh, t=縣, s=县, hp=Xiàn), formally county-level divisions, are found in the third level of the administrative hierarchy in Provinces and Autonomous regions and the second level in municipalities and Hainan, a level that is known ...
*
Prefecture-level city
*
List of cities in China
References
Understanding the Chinese Economies, Rongxing Guo · 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:County-Level City
Administrative divisions of China
*Cou
County-level divisions of the People's Republic of China