Political Subdivision: Provinces
Provinces were later established as the highest level of local government in ancient China in a significant change in China's administrative system. They were first created in the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368) in response to a dynamic process of adjustment and improvement of the central and local power structures to meet the need to govern a unified multi-ethnic country.
Provinces served as a pivot of the central-local relationship, reliant on centralized administration with some degree of authority ceded to the local level. This helped reduce the possibility of local lords becoming too powerful politically, economically or culturally and tempted to build their own power bases insulated from outside interventions, and greatly strengthened control by the central government over the regions, which contributed to national unity and ethnic integration. The establishment of provinces defined an overall framework for China's local administration and administrative divisions during the Yuan Dynasty and beyond, and has had a great impact on later generations and even today.
行省制
行省制是中国古代一种行政制度，以省为最高一级的地方行政机构，反映了中国行政制度发展史上的重大变化。行省制起源于元朝，是当时中央与地方权力结构不断调整、完善以适应统一多民族国家治理要求的产物。
行省制确立了行省作为中央与地方关系的枢纽，是以中央集权为主，辅以部分地方分权的新体制，进一步削弱了地方政治、经济、文化的分离割据力量，加强了中央对地方的有效控制与管理，促进了国家统一和民族融合。这一制度奠定了元朝及以后中国地方行政管理制度和行政区域划分的整体结构，对后世乃至当代中国行政体制都产生了很大影响。
