2 List

Provinces administered by the People's Republic of China

Name	Chinese ( S)	pinyinPinyin (, pinyin) literally means "join together sounds" (a less literal translation being "phoneticize", "spell" or "transcription") in Chinese and usually refers to Hany pinyin (, literal meaning: " Han language pinyin"), which is a system of romanizati	Abbreviation	Capital	List of county-level divisions
AnhuiAnhui (, Hanyu Pinyin: nhui, Wade-Giles: An-hui, Postal System Pinyin: Ngan-hui Anhwei or An-hwei is a province of the People's Republic of China. It is located in east China, across the basins of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) and the Huaihe River.	安徽	Ānhui	皖 wǎn	HefeiHefei ( pinyin Hefei; Wade-Giles: Hofei) is the capital of Anhui Province of China. Formerly translated system. Population: 772,000. Area: 120 km². The GDP per capita was ¥ 17770 (ca. 1800, US$ 2150) in 2003, ranked no. 91 among 659 Chinese cities. Histor	List of county-level divisions
Fujian	福建	Fújiàn	闽 mǐn	Fuzhou	List of county-level divisions
Gansu	甘肃	Gānsù	甘 gān or 陇 lǒng	Lanzhou	List of county-level divisions
Guangdong	广东	Guǎngdong	粤 yuè	Guangzhou	List of county-level divisions
Guizhou	贵州	Guìzhou	黔 qián or 贵 guì	Guiyang	List of county-level divisions
Hainan	海南	Hǎinán	琼 qióng	Haikou	List of county-level divisions
Hebei	河北	Hébei	冀 jì	Shijiazhuang	List of county-level divisions
Heilongjiang	黑龙江	Heilóngjiāng	黑 hei	Harbin	List of county-level divisions
Henan	河南	Hénán	豫 yù	Zhengzhou	List of county-level divisions
Hubei	湖北	Húbei	鄂 è	Wuhan	List of county-level divisions
Hunan	湖南	Húnán	湘 xiāng	Changsha	List of county-level divisions
Jiangsu	江苏	Jiāngsu	苏 su	Nanjing	List of county-level divisions
Jiangxi	江西	Jiāngxi	赣 gàn	Nanchang	List of county-level divisions
Jilin	吉林	Jílín	吉 jí	Changchun	List of county-level divisions
Liaoning	辽宁	Liáoníng	辽 liáo	Shenyang	List of county-level divisions
Qinghai	青海	Qinghǎi	青 qing	Xining	List of county-level divisions
Shaanxi	陕西	Shǎnxi	陕 shǎn or 秦 qín	Xi'an	List of county-level divisions
Shandong	山东	Shāndong	鲁 lǔ	Jinan	List of county-level divisions
Shanxi	山西	Shānxi	晋 jìn	Taiyuan	List of county-level divisions
Sichuan	四川	Sìchuān	川 chuān or 蜀 shǔ	Chengdu	List of county-level divisions
Yunnan	云南	Yúnnán	滇 diān or 云 yún	Kunming	List of county-level divisions
Zhejiang	浙江	Zhèjiāng	浙 zhè	Hangzhou	List of county-level divisions

3 History

The provinces of China were first set up during the Yuan Dynasty. There were initially 10 provinces. By the time of the Qing Dynasty there were 18, all of which were in China proper. These were:

Zhili Henan Shandong Shanxi Shaanxi Gansu Hubei Hunan Guangdong

Guangxi Sichuan Yunnan Guizhou Jiangsu Jiangxi Zhejiang Fujian Anhui

For every province, there was a xunfu (巡撫), a political overseer on emperor's behalf and a tidu (提督), a military governor. In addition, there was a zongdu (總督), a general military inspector, for every two or three provinces.

Outer regions of China were not divided into provinces. Manchuria (consisting of Fengtian (now Liaoning), Jilin, Heilongjiang), Xinjiang, and Mongolia were overseen by military leaders or generals (將軍) and vice-tudong (副都統), and civilian leaders were heads of the leagues (盟長), a subdivision of Mongolia.

In 1878, Xinjiang became a province, in 1909, Fengtian, Jilin, and Heilongjiang were made provinces as well. Taiwan was made a province in 1887, but it was ceded to Japan in 1895. As a result, there were 22 provinces in China (Outer China and China proper) near the end of the Qing Dynasty.

The Republic of China, established in 1912, set up 4 more provinces in Inner Mongolia and 2 provinces in historic Tibet, bringing the total to 28. 4 provinces were however lost with the establishment of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Manchuria. After the defeat of Japan in World War II, Manchuria was reincorporated as 10 provinces, and Taiwan was also returned to China. As a result, the Republic of China had 35 provinces. Although the Republic of China now only controls one province ( Taiwan Province) and some islands of a second province ( Fujian), it continues to claim (in theory at least) 35 provinces.

The People's Republic of China abolished many of the provinces in the 1950s and converted a number of them into autonomous regions. Hainan was set up as a separate province in 1988, bringing the total number of provinces to 22.

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