Administrative divisions of China in the context of "Chinese economic stimulus program"

The special administrative regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China are one of four types of province-level divisions of the People's Republic of China directly under the control of its Central People's Government (State Council). As a region, they possess the highest degree of autonomy from China's central government. However, despite the relative autonomy that the Central People's Government offers the special administrative regions, the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee remain capable of enforcing laws for the special administrative regions.

The legal basis for the establishment of SARs, unlike the other administrative divisions of China, is provided for by Article 31, rather than Article 30, of the Constitution of China of 1982. Article 31 reads: "The state may establish special administrative regions when necessary. The systems to be instituted in special administrative regions shall be prescribed by law enacted by the National People's Congress in the light of the specific conditions".

The People's Republic of China is officially divided into 34 province-level administrative divisions, the first level of administrative division in the country. There are four types of divisions at the province level:

• Provinces (23)
• Autonomous regions (5)
• Municipalities (4)
• Special administrative regions (SARs, 2)

A county-level city (Chinese: 县级市) is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judicial but no legislative rights over their own local law and are usually governed by prefecture-level divisions, but a few are governed directly by province-level divisions.

A county-level city is a "city" (市; shì) and "county" (县; xiàn) that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction. As such, it is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal entity, and a county, which is an administrative division of a prefecture. Most county-level cities were created in the 1980s and 1990s by replacing denser populated counties.

The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet, or referred to in Chinese as Xizang, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the Tibet Area, a former administrative division of the Republic of China.

The current borders of the Tibet Autonomous Region were generally established in the 18th century and include about half of cultural Tibet, which was at times independent and at times either under the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty or Qing dynasty rule. The TAR spans more than 1,200,000 km (460,000 sq mi) and is the second-largest province-level division of China by area. Due to its harsh and rugged terrain, it has a total population of only 3.6 million people or approximately 3 inhabitants per square kilometre (7.8/sq mi).

Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers).

The province is bordered by Jilin to the south and Inner Mongolia to the west. It also shares a border with Russia (Amur Oblast, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Primorsky Krai and Zabaykalsky Krai) to the north and east. The capital and the largest city of the province is Harbin. Among Chinese provincial-level administrative divisions, Heilongjiang is the sixth-largest by total area, the 20th-most populous, and the second-poorest by GDP per capita after only Gansu province.

Hunan is an inland province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, and Guizhou and Chongqing to the northwest. Its capital and largest city is Changsha, which abuts the Xiang River. Hengyang, Zhuzhou, and Yueyang are among its most populous urban cities.

With a population of just over 66 million as of 2020 residing in an area of approximately 210,000 km (81,000 sq mi), it is China's 7th-most populous province, the third-most populous among landlocked provinces (after Henan and Sichuan), the third-most populous in South Central China (after Guangdong and Henan), and the second-most populous province in Central China. It is the largest province in South Central China and the fourth-largest landlocked province.

Prefectures are one of four types of prefecture-level divisions in China, the second-level administrative division in the country. While at one time prefectures were the most common prefecture-level division, they are in the process of being abolished and only seven formally-designated prefectures remain.