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 Prefectures are one of four types of prefecture-level divisions in China, the second-level administrative division in the country.

The term "prefecture" is also used as a translation of three unrelated types of administrative divisions that were historically in use in China: the xian, the zhou, and the fu.

The constitution of the People's Republic of China does not endorse any prefecture-level division, except for autonomous prefectures.

Prefectures and leagues are not at all mentioned; provinces are explicitly stated to be divided directly into counties.

The People's Republic of China has revived the word zhou as part of the term "zizhizhou" (自治州), which is translated as "autonomous prefectures", as described above.