History of the political divisions of ChinaThis article talks about the history of the political divisions of China.
1 Syllables play an important role in Chinese grammar. Most of the above political divisions can only be given names of a certain number of syllables.
Ancient timesBefore the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, China was ruled by a network of kings, nobles, and tribes. The rivalry of these groups culminated in the Warring States Period, and the state of Qin eventually emerged dominant. After the state of Qin managed to subdue the rest of China under a unified Qin Dynasty in 221 BC, it was determined not to allow China to fall back into disunity. It therefore designed, based upon existing systems, the first administrative hierarchy in China, with just two levels:
All of China was divided into commanderies and counties, which were centrally ruled and tightly controlled. Nevertheless this failed to prevent the collapse of the Qin Dynasty in 206 BC. The Han Dynasty that followed inherited the system with minor modifications. After the Rebellion of the seven states the system was stabilized to be:
Throughout the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period and the Western Jin Dynasty, this system was kept intact.
1 — One of the original 13 provinces of the Eastern Han Dynasty. This changed, however, with the invasion of tribes from the north, who disrupted the unity of China and set up a variety of governments. By the time unity was finally reestablished by the Sui Dynasty, the provinces had been divided and redivided so many times by different governments that they were almost the same size as commanderies. As such, the Sui Dynasty merged these two levels together. This new merged level is translated as "prefectures" into English. The Tang Dynasty set up circuits as an additional level of administration on top. Hence:
The circuits would eventually become a source of rebellion and warlordism, which eventually resulted in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song Dynasty that emerged out of this crisis continued with this system, but using a different Chinese word for the circuits:
The Mongols, who succeeded in subjugating all of China under the Yuan Dynasty in 1279, introduced the precursors to the modern provinces as a new level at the top:
After passing through the Ming Dynasty, China fell to the Manchus, who established rule over China as the Qing Dynasty in 1644. The Manchus applied the following system over China proper:
Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Outer Mongolia were ruled by military generals. Inner Mongolia was organized under leagues, and Tibet and Qinghai were overseen by commissioners. There were initially 18 provinces under the Qing Dynasty. Near the end of the dynasty, Manchuria was reorganized into 3 more provinces, and Xinjiang and Taiwan were both set up as provinces, bringing the total to 23. (Taiwan was however ceded to Japan in the Treaty of Maguan, bringing the total back down to 22. Republic of ChinaThe Republic of China streamlined the system down to three levels: The Republic of China set up 4 more provinces out of Inner Mongolia and 2 more provinces out of parts of historical Tibet, bringing the total number of provinces up to 28. The Republic of China also began the setting up of municipalities, or cities directly administered by the government. The creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo by Japan in the 1930s deprived China of 4 provinces in the northeast. After the defeat of Japan in 1945, Manchuria was reincorporated into Chin as 9 provinces. Taiwan and the Pescadores was also returned to China and was organized into Taiwan Province. By this time there was a total of 12 municipalities under the Republic of China. After the Republic of China lost mainland China in 1949, it was restricted to only Taiwan, the Pescadores, and a few offshore islands of Fujian province. Since then two more municipalities have been set up in Taiwan. In the meantime, the Republic of China has not recognized any of the changes made to the administrative structure of the mainland, and has never officially retracted its claim to mainland China (including Tibet) and Outer Mongolia. Many maps produced in Taiwan still show the 1949 border along with changes made to Taiwan post-1949. All in all, the Republic of China officially claims a total of 35 provinces, 14 municipalities, 1 special administrative region and 2 regions in all of China. However, these claims are now mostly ignored and the provincial administrations of Taiwan and Fukien provinces have been largely streamlined in favor of lower levels, namely counties and provincial cities. (See political divisions of the Republic of China)
1 — The capital of Taiwan Province was moved to Jhongsing Village from Taipei in the 1960s. People's Republic of ChinaThe communist forces initially held parts of Manchuria and northern China at the start of the Chinese civil war. By late 1949, they controlled the majority of mainland China, forcing the Republic of China to relocate to Taiwan. The People's Republic made the following changes:
The general situation as of 1951 was as follows:
Levels:
1950sIn 1952 the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui and Sichuan were restored. Pingyuan and Chahar were split into their surrounding provinces. Nanjing, old capital of the Republic of China, was deprived of municipality status and annexed by Jiangsu province. In 1953 Changchun and Harbin were elevated to municipality status. In 1954 a massive campaign to cut the number of provincial-level divisions was initiated. Of the 14 municipalities existing in 1953, 11 were annexed by nearby provinces, with only Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin remaining. The province of Liaoning was formed out of the merger of Liaodong and Liaoxi, while Suiyuan and Ningxia disappeared into Inner Mongolia and Gansu. The greater administrative area level was abolished in 1954. The process continued in 1955 with Rehe being split among Hebei, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia, and Xikang disappearing into Sichuan. In that same year Xinjiang became the second autonomous region of China, and plans for a third, Tibet Autonomous Region, were initiated. Qamdo territory was put under the planned Tibet Autonomous Region. In 1957 two more autonomous regions were added, Ningxia (split back out of Gansu) and Guangxi (which was previously a province). In 1958 Tianjin was annexed by Hebei, leaving only two municipalities, Beijing and Shanghai. 1960s and 1970sIn 1965 Tibet Autonomous Region was established out of the formerly self-governing Tibet region, plus Qamdo territory. In 1967 Tianjin was split back out as a municipality. 1980s and 1990sStarting in the 1980s, prefecture-level cities and county-level cities began to appear in very large numbers, usually by replacing entire prefectures and counties. Hainan was split out of Guangdong and set up as a province in 1988. In 1997 Chongqing became the fourth municipality of China. In that same year Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule and became the first special administrative region. Macau became the second in 1999. In the 1990s, there has been a campaign to abolish district public offices as a level. By 2004 very few remain. In the meantime, most prefectures have become prefecture-level cities. Levels:
See also
Categories: History of China | Provinces of China |
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