When referring to political divisions of China, town is the standard English translation of the Chinese (traditional: ; zh, p=zhèn , w=chen⁴). The

Constitution of the People's Republic of China The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China (PRC). In September 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference adopted the Common Progr ...

classifies towns as fourth-level administrative units, along with, for example, townships ( zh, s=乡 , p=xiāng). A township is typically smaller in population and more remote than a town. Similar to higher-level administrative units, the borders of a town would typically include an urban core (a small town with the population on the order of 10,000 people), as well as a rural area with some villages ( zh, labels=no, s=村 , p=cūn, or zh, labels=no, s=庄 , p=zhuāng).

Map representation

A typical provincial map would merely show a town as a circle centered at its urban area and labeled with its name, while a more detailed one (e.g., a map of a single county-level division) would also show the borders dividing the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

into towns () and/or township () and subdistrict (街道) units. The town in which the county level government, and usually the division's main urban area), are located is often not marked on less-detailed maps, because its location is usually labeled with the name of the county level division rather than the name of the actual town into which this urban area falls. For example, the county government of Tongshan County is located in Tongyang Town ( zh, labels=no , s=通羊镇 , p=Tōngyáng zhèn), but the maps would normally show it with a circle labeled "Tongshan County" () or simply "Tongshan" (). Road signs would also normally show distance to "Tongshan" rather than "Tongyang". On the other hand, more detailed maps - e.g., maps of individual prefecture-level cities in a provincial atlas - would label the county seat location with both the name of the county (e.g., zh, labels=no , s=通山县 , p=Tōngshān xiàn) and, below, and in a smaller font, with the name of the township (e.g., zh, labels=no , s=通羊镇 , p=Tōngyáng zhèn).Compare e.g. the provincial map and individual prefectures' maps in the Road Atlas of Hubei (; published by '' SinoMaps Press'', 2007, ), or in any other comparable atlas. Intercity buses, trains, or riverboats destined to, or stopping at a county seat may designate its destination either by the name of the county or the name of the county-seat township.

Usage of ''zhen'' in Taiwan

In contrast to the PRC, in the official translation adopted in the ROC, both the characters "" ( zh, links=no, p=xiāng) and "" ( zh, labels=no, p=zhèn) are translated as "townships", with specifically being "urban" township, 'with specifically translated as "rural" township

Gallery

References

{{Authority control 01 Township-level divisions of China Populated places in China