Administrative divisions of the Qing dynasty

The administrative system of the Qing dynasty was based on the idea of "adapting to the times and the place, and making adjustments according to circumstances".

During the late Qing dynasty, there were efforts to extend the province system of China proper to the rest of the empire.

There was discussion to do the same in Inner and Outer Mongolia and Tibet-Qinghai, but these proposals were not put to practice, and these areas remained outside the provincial system of China proper when the Qing dynasty fell.

Although all provincial agencies communicated with the central government through him, he himself was subordinate to a Governors-general "Zongdu (总督)".

[4] The Qing government agency known as Lifan Yuan oversaw the administrations of the empire's Inner Asian territories, which were also collectively known as Chinese Tartary by contemporary Europeans.

Map of the eighteen provinces of Qing dynasty China in 1866
The Qing Empire in 1820. The Inner Asian regions are shown in light yellow (different from the dark yellow area, the eighteen provinces).
Official map of the Qing Empire published by the Qing in 1905.