From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Direct-controlled municipalities are the highest-level cities in China, with status equal to that of the provinces. Both the People's Republic of China (PRC) on mainland China and the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan adopt this system with some variations. Geographically and culturally, many of the Chinese municipalities are enclaves in the middle of provinces. Some occur in strategic positions in between provinces. Current municipalities of PRC are Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing, and current municipalities under ROC administration are Kaohsiung and Taipei.

China's Mainland municipalities can be quite large. All four municipalities extend far beyond their urban areas into the surrounding areas, encompassing towns, villages, farmland, hills, and other areas that are much larger than the urban area. The largest municipality, Chongqing, is larger in size than the smallest province, Hainan.

China's Taiwan municipalities are smaller than their urban areas. The urban area of Taipei and Kaohsiung municipalities spill out of their borders into Taipei County and Kaohsiung County, respectively.

For information on the administrative structure of China and how municipalities fit within it, see political divisions of China, political divisions of the Republic of China.

In China's Mainland municipalities, the highest ranking government official is the Mayor. The mayor is also a deputy in the National People's Congress (China's legislature).^[1]. The Mayor is also the Deputy Secretary of the CPC Municipal Committee. However, the highest administrative authority in the municipality belongs to the Secretary of the CPC Municipal Committee.

The first municipalities were the 11 cities of Nanjing, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Chongqing, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Hankou (now part of Wuhan), Shenyang, and Harbin when the ROC government ruled the Mainland China. They were established in 1927 soon after they were designated as "cities" during the 1920s. Nominally Dalian was a municipality as well, although it was under Japanese Occupation. These cities were first called special municipalities/cities (特別市), but were later renamed Yuan-controlled municipalities (院轄市), then direct-controlled municipalities (直轄市) by the Central Government.

After the Chinese Communists took over mainland China in 1949 and established the PRC, Anshan, Benxi, and Fushun were made municipalities as well, while Qingdao, Dalian, and Harbin were reduced to provincial municipalities. ^[2] Hankou was merged to Wuhan. Hence there remained 12 municipalities in mainland China, until Dalian was elevated in 1950. In November 1952, Nanjing was reduced to a provincial municipality. ^[3]In July 1953, Harbin was restored to municipality status, along with Changchun. ^[4]Except Beijing and Tianjin, which were under central control, all other municipalities were governed by the greater administrative areas.

In June 1954, 11 of the 14 municipalities were reduced to provincial municipalities; many of them became capitals of the provinces they were in. Only Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin were left, until Chongqing was restored in 1997 with a much enlarged area. Tianjin was also temporarily reverted to province-controlled status around the 1960s.

Two municipalities in Taiwan were created after the ROC government relocated from the mainland to the island. Taipei was made a Yuan-controlled municipality in 1967. The same was done for Kaohsiung in 1979. They remain the only two municipalities currently under the ROC administration. Promotion of Taichung from the provincial city to the third municipality has been proposed but no conclusion has reached. Since 1994, Yuan-controlled municipalities have been officially called direct-control municipalities to emphasize their autonomy. Besides significant political, economic, and cultural development, the ROC law dictates that a municipality must have population of over 1,250,000.

Municipalities are the highest-ranked cities in China. Some cities of lower levels may also refer to themselves as municipalities in the English language. Wikipedia's translation, however, refers to them using the following conventional terms:

Three levels of cities in the People's Republic of China on Mainland China:

• Municipalities
• Prefecture-level cities
• County-level cities

Three levels of cities in the Republic of China on Taiwan:

• Municipalities
• Provincial cities
• County-controlled cities