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 A prefecture-level city (Chinese: 地级市(地級市); pinyin: Dìjíshì) or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure.

During the Republican era, many of China's prefectural cities were designated as counties as the country's second level division below a province.

In the case of the disputed Taiwan, it has six prefectural level cities, but these are governed separately by the Republic of China as their special municipalities.

In China, however, large cities such as Xianning may, in reality, contain both urban and rural elements.

On a less detailed map, Xianning would be indicated by a point, more or less corresponding to the coordinates of its city government.

This convention may lead to difficulty in the identification of places mentioned in older sources.

Statistics of China such as population and industrial activity are generally reported along prefectural city lines.