Autonomous areas of China
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007) |
| Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China This article is part of the series: Political divisions of China |
|---|
| Province level |
| Provinces |
| Autonomous areas |
| Municipalities |
| Special Administrative Regions |
| Prefecture level |
| Prefectures |
| Autonomous prefectures |
| Prefecture-level cities |
| (incl. Sub-provincial cities) |
| Leagues |
| County level |
| Counties |
| Autonomous counties |
| County-level cities |
| (incl. Sub-prefecture-level cities) |
| City districts |
| Banners |
| Autonomous banners |
| Township level |
| Townships |
| Ethnic townships |
| Towns |
| Subdistricts |
| Sumu |
| Ethnic sumu |
| County districts |
In a similar fashion to the former Soviet Union's titular nations, a number of areas associated with one or more ethnic minorities are designated as autonomous within the People's Republic of China (PRC). These areas are recognized in the PRC's constitution and are nominally given a number of rights not accorded to other administrative divisions. In reality, however, autonomous regions are "political eunuchs." This is because their authority rests with the Constitution and the Law on Regional Autonomy, requiring leaders to seek prior approval from the National People's Party (NPC) to pass legislation. This is not true for other provinces, which can pass legislation without such prior approval. For this reason, it has been contended that Autonomous regions are in fact "less autonomous."[1]
