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 sub-prefectural municipality (simplified Chinese: 副地级市; traditional Chinese: 副地級市; pinyin: fùdìjíshì), sub-prefectural city, or vice-prefectural municipality, is an unofficial designation for a type of administrative division of China.
A sub-prefectural city is officially considered to be a county-level city, but it has more power de facto because the cadres assigned to its government are one half-level higher in rank than those of an "ordinary" county-level city—though still lower than those of a prefecture-level city.
While county-level cities are under the administrative jurisdiction of prefecture-level divisions, sub-prefectural cities are often (but not always) administered directly by the provincial government, with no intervening prefecture level administration.
Examples of sub-prefectural cities that does not belong to any prefecture: Jiyuan (Henan Province), Xiantao, Qianjiang and Tianmen (Hubei), Shihezi, Tumxuk, Aral, and Wujiaqu (Xinjiang).
Examples of sub-prefectural cities that nevertheless belong to a prefecture: Golmud (Haixi, Qinghai), Manzhouli (Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia).