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A prefecture-level city (地级市 Pinyin: dìjí shì, literally "region-level city") is an administrative division of China. Prefecture-level cities are governed directly by province-level divisions of the People's Republic of China. Most provinces are composed entirely or nearly entirely of prefecture-level cities. Of the 22 provinces and 5 autonomous regions of Mainland China, only 3 provinces ( Yunnan, Guizhou, Qinghai) and 2 autonomous regions ( Xinjiang, Tibet) have more than three prefecture-level divisions that are not prefecture-level cities.

The term provincial city is sometimes used to refer to prefecture-level cities, though this term is usually used to refer to another type of city in the Republic of China.

The first prefecture-level cities were created on November 5, 1983. Over the next 20 years, prefecture-level cities have come to replace the vast majority of Chinese prefectures. This process is still ongoing.

Prefecture-level cities are not " cities" 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 prefectures that prefecture-level cities have replaced are themselves large administrative units containing cities, towns, and farmland. As a result, prefecture-level cities nearly always contain counties, county-level cities, and other such subdivisions. To distinguish a "prefecture-level city" from its actual urban area (the traditional meaning of the word " city"), the term 市区 shìqu, or "urban area", is used.

Criteria that a prefecture of China must meet to become a prefecture-level city:

• An urban centre with a non-farmer population over 250,000
• gross output of value of industry of 200,000,000 RMBThe renminbi (Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , literally means "people's currency") is the official currency of the People's Republic of China. It is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of mainland China. The official
• the output of tertiary industry supersedes that of primary industry
• Over 35% of the GDPIn economics, the gross domestic product GDP is a measure of the amount of the economic production of a particular territory in financial capital terms during a specific time period. Definition GDP is defined as the total value of all goods and services p

15 large prefecture-level cities have been granted the status of sub-provincial city, which gives them much greater autonomy.

A sub-prefecture-level city (副地級市), or vice-prefecture-level city, are county-level cities with powers approaching those of prefecture-level cities. Examples include Jiyuan ( Henan province), Xiantao ( Hubei), and Golmud ( Qinghai).