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	Single-party government
Subdivisions	Prefecture-level city, Prefecture, League, Sub-Provincial Autonomous Prefecture, Autonomous Prefecture

An autonomous region (AR; Chinese: 自治区; pinyin: zìzhìqū) 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

Statistics

Population

Ethnic composition of Autonomous Regions (%, 2000)

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

See also

• Administrative divisions of China
  • Provinces of China
  • Special administrative regions of China

References

Provincial-level divisions of the People's Republic of China Provinces Anhui Fujian Gansu Guangdong Guizhou Hainan Hebei Heilongjiang Henan Hubei Hunan Jiangsu Jiangxi Jilin Liaoning Qinghai Shaanxi Shandong Shanxi Sichuan Taiwan¹ Yunnan Zhejiang Autonomous regions Guangxi Inner Mongolia Ningxia Tibet Xinjiang Municipalities Beijing Chongqing Shanghai Tianjin Special administrative regions Hong Kong¹ Macau¹ Note: Taiwan is claimed as a province, but is administered by the Republic of China (see Political status of Taiwan). Hong Kong and Macau are claimed as provincial-level divisions, but as listed on the constitutional documents and joint declarations their statuses are better to be interpreted as first-level divisions instead.