China's administrative units are currently based on a three-tier system, dividing the nation into provinces, counties and townships:

The country is divided into provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government;

A province or an autonomous region is subdivided into autonomous prefectures, counties, autonomous counties and cities; 

A county or an autonomous county is subdivided into townships, ethnic townships and towns.

Municipalities directly under the Central Government and large cities are subdivided into districts and counties; autonomous prefectures are subdivided into counties, autonomous counties and cities. Autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties are all ethnic autonomous areas. The Constitution specifically empowers the state to establish special administrative regions when necessary. A special administrative region is a local administrative area directly under the Central Government.

The People's Republic of China has 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 centrally administered municipalities and 2 special administrative regions (see the following table).  

China's Provinces, Autonomous Regions, Centrally Administered Municipalities and Special Administrative Regions

Name	Seat of  Government	Area (10,000 sq km)	Population by the end of 2006 (10,000 persons)
Beijing Municipality	Beijing	1.68	1,581
Tianjin Municipality	Tianjin	1.13	1,075
Hebei Province	Shijiazhuang	19.00	6,898
Shanxi Province	Taiyuan	15.60	3,375
Inner Mongolia  Autonomous Region	Hohhot	119.75	2,397
Liaoning Province	Shenyang	14.57	4,271
Jilin Province	Changchun	18.70	2,723
Heilongjiang Province	Harbin	46.90	3,823
Shanghai Municipality	Shanghai	0.62	1,815
Jiangsu Province	Nanjing	10.26	7,550
Zhejiang Province	Hangzhou	10.18	4,980
Anhui Province	Hefei	13.90	6,110
Fujian Province	Fuzhou	12.00	3,558
Jiangxi Province	Nanchang	16.66	4,339
Shandong Province	Ji'nan	15.30	9,309
Henan Province	Zhengzhou	16.70	9,392
Hubei Province	Wuhan	18.74	5,693
Hunan Province	Changsha	21.00	6,342
Guangdong Province	Guangzhou	18.60	9,304
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region	Nanning	23.77	4,719
Hainan Province	Haikou	3.40	836
Chongqing Municipality	Chongqing	8.20	2,808
Sichuan Province	Chengdu	48.80	8,169
Guizhou Province	Guiyang	17.00	3,757
Yunnan Province	Kunming	39.40	4,483
Tibet Autonomous Region	Lhasa	127.49	281
Shaanxi Province	Xi'an	20.50	3,735
Gansu Province	Lanzhou	45.00	2,606
Qinghai Province	Xining	72.00	548
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region	Yinchuan	6.28	604
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region	Urumqi	165.58	2,050
Hong Kong Special  Administrative Region	Hong Kong	0.1104	686 (in  mid-2006)
Macao Special Administrative Region	Macao	0.0028	50 (in mid-2006)
Taiwan Province		3.60	2,288 (in mid-2006)