Provinces Autonomous regions Sub-provincial autonomous prefectures Autonomous prefectures Leagues (Aimag) (abolishing) Prefectures Provincial-controlled cities Provincial-controlled counties Autonomous counties County-level cities DistrictsEthnic districts Banners (Hoxu)Autonomous banners Shennongjia Forestry District Liuzhi Special District Wolong Special Administrative Region Workers and peasants districts Ethnic townships Towns Subdistricts Subdistrict bureaux Sum Ethnic sum County-controlled districts County-controlled district bureaux (obsolete) Management committees Town-level city Areas Villages · Gaqa · Ranches Village Committees Communities Capital cities New areas Autonomous administrative divisions National central cities History: before 1912, 1912–49, 1949–present The new areas or new districts of the People's Republic of China are new urban districts that are given special economic and development support by the Chinese Central Government or regional government.
New areas are divided into two varieties: administrative or management and further divided into levels: state-level, provincial-level, and prefectural-level.
The State-level new areas of the People's Republic of China are special economic-development zones supported by the central government.
The zones are parts of cities at various levels in the formal hierarchy but are known as "national-level" or "state-level" in reference to the preferential policies and privileges that are granted directly by the State Council.
These privileges are to encourage and attract new developments (particularly foreign direct investment) to speed up the city's economy.