Autonomous regions of China

Autonomous region 自治区 Zìzhìqū

Category	Unitary State
Location	People's Republic of China
Number	5
Populations	3,002,166 (Tibet) – 46,026,629(Guangxi)
Areas	25,000 square miles (65,000 km²) (Ningxia) – 642,800 square miles (1,665,000 km²) (Xinjiang)
Government	Dual-Party Government
Subdivisions	Prefecture-level city, Prefecture, League, Sub-Provincial Autonomous Prefecture, Autonomous Prefecture

Administrative divisions of China
This article is part of a series on
Provincial level Municipalities Provinces Autonomous regions Special administrative regions
Sub-provincial level Sub-provincial cities Sub-provincial autonomous prefectures Sub-provincial city districts
Prefectural level Prefectures Prefectural cities Autonomous prefectures Leagues
Sub-prefectural-level Sub-prefectural cities Provincial-controlled cities Provincial-controlled counties Provincial-controlled districts
County level Counties Autonomous counties County-level cities Districts Ethnic districts Forestry districts Special districts Banners Autonomous banners Management areas Management Committees
Township level Townships Ethnic townships Towns Subdistricts Subdistrict bureaux Sums Ethnic sums Prefectural bureaux Management committees Town-level city (pilot) County-controlled districts County-controlled district bureaux (obsolete)
Village level (Grassroots Autonomous Organizations) Villages · Gaqas Village Committees Residential communities Residential Committees
Other Regions Capital cities New areas Autonomous administrative divisions National Central Cities Special Economic Zones
History: before 1912, 1912–49, 1949–present

An autonomous region (Chinese: 自治区; pinyin: Zìzhìqū) (AR) is a first-level administrative subdivision of China. Like Chinese provinces, an autonomous region has its own local government, but an autonomous region has more legislative rights. An autonomous region is a minority entity which has a higher population of a particular minority ethnic group.

The Inner Mongolia autonomous region was established in 1947; Xinjiang was made autonomous in 1955; Guangxi and Ningxia in 1958, and Tibet in 1965. The designation of Guangxi and Ningxia as Zhuang and Hui autonomous areas, respectively, was bitterly protested by the local Han Chinese, who made up two-thirds of the population of each region. Although Mongols made up even less of a percentage of Inner Mongolia, the ensuing Chinese Civil War gave little opportunity for protest.^[1]

List of autonomous regions

Designated minority	Name in English	Simplified Chinese Pinyin	Local name SASM/GNC romanization (Language)	Abbreviation	Capital
Uyghur	Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region	新疆维吾尔自治区 Xīnjiāng Wéiwú'ěr Zìzhìqū	شىنجاڭ ئۇيغۇر ئاپتونوم رايونى Xinjang Uyĝur Aptonom Rayoni (Uyghur)	新 Xīn (XUAR)	Ürümqi (乌鲁木齐; ئۈرۈمچی)
Mongol	Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Nei Mongol Autonomous Region)	内蒙古自治区 Nèi Měnggǔ Zìzhìqū	ᠦᠪᠦᠷ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠤᠯ ᠤᠨ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠣ ᠣᠷᠣᠨ Öbür mongγol-un öbertegen zasaqu orun (Mongolian)	內蒙古 Nèi Měnggǔ (IMAR)	Hohhot (呼和浩特; ᠬᠥᠬᠡᠬᠣᠲᠠ)
Tibetan	Tibet Autonomous Region (Xizang Autonomous Region)	西藏自治区 Xīzàng Zìzhìqū	བོད་རང་སྐྱོང་ལྗོངས། Poi Ranggyong Jong (Tibetan)	藏 Zàng (TAR)	Lhasa (拉萨; ལྷ་ས།)
Hui	Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region	宁夏回族自治区 Níngxià Huízú Zìzhìqū	(The Hui speak Chinese)	宁 Níng (NHAR)	Yinchuan (银川)
Zhuang	Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region	广西壮族自治区 Guǎngxī Zhuàngzú Zìzhìqū	Gvangjsih Bouxcuengh Swcigih (Zhuang)	桂 Guì (GZAR)	Nanning (南宁; Namzningz)

Statistics

Population

Administrative Division	National Share (%)	2010 Census^[2]	2000 Census^[3]	1990 Census^[4]	1982 Census^[5]	1964 Census^[6]	1954 Census^[7]
Guangxi	3.5	46,026,629	43,854,538	42,245,765	36,420,960	20,845,017	19,560,822
Inner Mongolia	1.9	24,706,321	23,323,347	21,456,798	19,274,279	12,348,638	6,100,104
Ningxia	0.5	6,176,900	5,486,393	4,655,451	3,895,578	*	*
Tibet	0.2	3,002,166	2,616,329	2,196,010	1,892,393	1,251,225	1,273,969
Xinjiang	1.6	21,813,334	18,459,511	15,155,778	13,081,681	7,270,067	4,873,608

Ethnic composition of Autonomous Regions (%, 2000)

Administrative Division	Titular Ethnic Group	Han Chinese	Third Largest Ethnic
Xinjiang (Uyghur)	45.21%	40.58%	6.74% (Kazakh)
Tibet (Tibetan)	92.8%	6.1%	0.35% (Hui)
Inner Mongolia (Mongol)	17.13%	79.17%	2.14% (Manchu)
Ningxia (Hui)	33.9%	65.5 %	1.16 (Manchu)
Guangxi (Zhuang)	32.0%	62.0 %	3.0% (Yao)

Note: In the "Third Largest Ethnic" column is the ethnic group given in brackets, after the names of the autonomous regions and Han people.

References

↑ Dreyer, June Teufel (1997). "Assimilation and Accommodation in China". In Brown, Michael Edward; Ganguly, Šumit. Government Policies and Ethnic Relations in Asia and the Pacific. MIT Press. p. 365.
↑ "Communiqué of the National Bureau of Statistics of People's Republic of China on Major Figures of the 2010 Population Census". National Bureau of Statistics of China.
↑ "现将2000年第五次全国人口普查快速汇总的人口地区分布数据公布如下". National Bureau of Statistics of China.
↑ "中华人民共和国国家统计局关于一九九〇年人口普查主要数据的公报". National Bureau of Statistics of China.
↑ "中华人民共和国国家统计局关于一九八二年人口普查主要数字的公报". National Bureau of Statistics of China.
↑ "第二次全国人口普查结果的几项主要统计数字". National Bureau of Statistics of China.
↑ "中华人民共和国国家统计局关于第一次全国人口调查登记结果的公报". National Bureau of Statistics of China.

Provincial level divisions of the People's Republic of China

Provinces¹	Anhui Fujian Gansu Guangdong Guizhou Hainan Hebei Heilongjiang Henan Hubei Hunan Jiangsu Jiangxi Jilin Liaoning Qinghai Shaanxi Shandong Shanxi Sichuan Yunnan Zhejiang

Autonomous regions	Guangxi Inner Mongolia Ningxia Tibet Xinjiang

Municipalities	Beijing Chongqing Shanghai Tianjin

Special administrative regions	Hong Kong Macau

Note: 1. Taiwan is claimed as a province, but is administered by the Republic of China (see Political status of Taiwan).