List of cities in China

This article is about cities in the People's Republic of China (Taiwan is not included). For cities controlled by Republic of China after 1949, see List of cities in Taiwan. For historical prefectural-level divisions of China, see List of fu prefectures of China.
Cities in the People's Republic of China
General topographic map of the populous part of China as per 2024, including the population class for each place (click to enlarge)
China administrative divisions lists

According to the administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China, including Hong Kong and Macau,[clarify] there are three levels of cities: provincial-level cities[1] (consisting of municipalities and Special Administrative Regions[failed verification][clarify][2]), prefecture-level cities, and county-level cities. As of January 2024, the PRC has a total of 707 cities: 4 municipalities, 2 SARs, 293 prefectural-level cities (including the 15 sub-provincial cities) and 408 county-level cities (including the 38 sub-prefectural cities and 12 XXPC cities). This list does not include any cities in the disputed Taiwan Province and portions of Fujian Province, which are claimed by the PRC under the One China Policy, as these areas are controlled by the Republic of China (see the List of cities in Taiwan).

Prefecture-level cities nearly always contain multiple counties (县), county-level cities, and other such sub-divisions. Because of this, prefecture-level cities often overlap in area with county-level cities.

Four cities are centrally administered municipalities, which include dense urban areas, suburbs, and large rural areas: Chongqing (32.05 million[3]), Shanghai (24.87 million[3]), Beijing (21.89 million[3]), and Tianjin (13.87 million[3]).

According to 2017 research from the Demographia research group, there are 102 cities governed by the People's Republic of China with an "urban area" population of over 1 million.[4]

  1. ^ 中华人民共和国行政区划. gov.cn. Government of the People's Republic of China. Archived from the original on 23 July 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  2. ^ Parker, Geoffrey (2004), Sovereign City: The City-state Through History, Reaktion Books, p. 121, ISBN 9781861892195, archived from the original on 2019-09-01, retrieved 2019-08-19 [irrelevant citation][failed verification]
  3. ^ a b c d "China: Provinces and Major Cities - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
  4. ^ "More than 100 Chinese cities now above 1 million people". Guardian. March 20, 2017. Archived from the original on October 3, 2017. Retrieved October 3, 2017.