Useful Notes / The Thirty-Three Divisions

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Beijing (北京, Běijīng)

China's capital and second-largest city. For more information, see its own page.

Hebei (河北, Héběi)

Nowdays, much of Hebei is taken up by commuter towns of Beijing. Think of it as the New Jersey to the US's New York City, or the Home Counties to the UK's London.

Inner Mongolia (内蒙古, Nèiměnggǔ)

Befitting its name, Inner Mongolia has a significant Mongol minority numbering some 4.2 million, meaning it has more Mongols than the Republic of Mongolia, even though they only form 17% of the population. The designation of "Inner" stems from being directly ruled by the Qing Dynasty, whereas "Outer Mongolia" was given more autonomy, enabling it to declare independence during the Xinhai Revolution. Mongols in Inner Mongolia also write in the traditional Mongol script, whereas Mongols in the independent republic write in Cyrillic.

Shanxi (山西, Shānxī)

Tianjin (天津, Tiānjīn)

The principal maritime port-of-entry into Beijing, located on the Bohai Gulf. Nowdays, Tianjin, along with Beijing and Hebei form the Jing-Jin-Ji Metropolis, an absolutely massive Megacity on the coast of the Bohai Sea.

fenced off Manchuria from being settled by everyone else

Heilongjiang (黑龙江, Hēilóngjiāng)

Heilongjiang is China's northernmost and easternmost province. The capital Harbin is famous for hosting a month-long ice and snow sculpture festival every January, the largest of its kind in the world.

Jilin (吉林, Jílín)

At 1.1 million people, Jilin has the largest ethnic Korean population in China. Mount Baekdu (or Changbai in Chinese), the holiest mountain in Korean Mythology, is located on the border of Jilin and North Korea's Ryanggang province. For understandable reasons, it is usually climbed from the Chinese side. The capital, Changchun, is host to FAW Group, one of China's Big Four automakers and a Fortune Global 500 company.

Liaoning (辽宁, Liáoníng)

The port city of Dalian (more specifically the Lushunkou district, historically known as Port Arthur) was contested in the early 20th century between the Japanese and Russians, a catalyst to the Russo-Japanese War. Dalian is now known as the home of Xinghai Square, the world's largest city square. Meanwhile, Anshan is known for its steel industry, with Ansteel Group being a Fortune Global 500 company.

Anhui (安徽, Ānhuī)

Fujian (福建, Fújiàn)

A hilly province nestled in the southeast across Taiwan, Fujian is the most linguistically diverse region of China. It is the urheimat of Min Chinese, a complex group of Chinese languages descended from Old Chinese (last spoken c. 3rd century CE), setting it apart from other Sinitic languages that are descended from Middle Chinese (last spoken c. 13th century CE). Combined with the harsh geography, this means that not only Min languages are mutually unintelligible with non-Min Chinese speakers, they aren't even mutually intelligible with each other. Hokkien, the most widely spoken Min language, is difficult to understand by Teochew speakers from Chaozhou. And that's just the coastal area; inland Fujian is even more diverse, with reports of people being unable to comprehend the language of another town that's just several kilometers away.
Quanzhou, together with Xiamen and Zhangzhou, form the nucleus of the Hoklo homeland. Some 70% of Taiwan's population are descended from Hoklo immigrants during the Qing dynasty. While Overseas Chinese in the West are disproportionately represented by the Cantonese, the situation is more even in the diaspora in Southeast Asia, where Cantonese and Hoklo people have a more equal distribution.
Aside from the Min, the western parts of the province are inhabited by the Hakka, whose circular-shaped rural dwellings (tulou), built to accommodate the mountainous terrain, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Off the coast of Xiamen is a historic, pedestrian-only island, Gulangyu, that was occupied by foreigners in the early 20th century, and is also a World Heritage Site.

Jiangsu (江苏, Jiāngsū)

Nowdays, much of southern and central Jiangsu is part of the Yangtze River Delta, a massive Megacity consisting of many cities near the mouth of the Yangtze. Suzhou in particular is practically part of the same conurbation as Shanghai, to the point that the two cities' metro systems are connected at Huaqiao Station. Nanjing has been capital of China several times, most recently during the Republic era before the Communists moved the capital to Beijing.
The southern parts of Jiangsu speak Wu Chinese, which is mutually indistinguishable with Mandarin Chinese. The Suzhou dialect was considered the prestige dialect of Wu Chinese before Shanghai rose in importance in the mid-19th century. Although Shanghainese is now considered the prestige dialect, Suzhounese is still taken by lingusits as representative of the Wu subbranch, as Shanghainese is heavily influenced by Mandarin and Cantonese.

Jiangxi (江西, Jiāngxī)

Shandong (山东, Shāndōng)

Confucius was a native of the state of Lu, which was in present-day Shandong. Spring and Autumn Annals, the namesake of a period of the Zhou dynasty, is an account of Lu, and its authorship is traditionally credited to Confucius. Those who subscribe to Sun Tzu's historicity believe that he was from the state of Qi, Lu's much more powerful northern neighbor.

Shanghai (上海, Shànghǎi)

China's largest city, located at the mouth of the Yangtze River. For more information, see its own page.

Zhejiang (浙江, Zhèjiāng)

Kuomintang revolutionary Chiang Kai-shek, who ruled the Republic of China from 1928 to 1975 (albeit confined to Taiwan from 1949 onwards), came from Xikou, located to the southeast of Hangzhou. Nowdays, much of northern Zhejiang is part of the Yangtze River Delta, a massive Megacity consisting of many cities near the mouth of the Yangtze. Ningbo, directly across the Hangzhou Bay from Shanghai, was an important port city during the Ming and Qing dynasties
Much of Zhejiang's population, along with the populations of neighboring Shanghai and Jiangsu, speak Wu languages, which are mutually unintelligible with Mandarin. Wenzhounese, spoken in the city of Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang, near the Fujian border, is noted as being especially hard to learn, to the point where it was used as a code during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Sino-Vietnamese War.

Guangdong (广东, Guǎngdōng)

The most populous province in China and the world's second-most populous national division (after Uttar Pradesh, India). It also has the country's largest economy, contributing $1.6 trillion (11%) of China's nominal annual GDP (i.e. were it a country of its own, its economy would have still dwarfed Russia's). The Pearl River Delta is a humongous megalopolis that contains Guangzhou and Shenzhen, two megacities that have become renowned as a center of high tech and manufacturing. Shenzhen was the first Chinese city to open up to capitalism in the 1970s, and benefits from its location right to the north of Hong Kong. Shenzhen Stock Exchange is the world's seventh largest stock exchange, as well as Asia's fourth largest. Guangdong is home to sixteen Fortune Global 500 companies, the most of any province outside Beijing, including eight in Shenzhen (e.g. Huawei and Tencent), five in Guangzhou, two in Foshan, and one in Zhuhai. Alpha Group Co., Ltd. and Creative Power Entertaining animation studios are also based in Guangzhou.
Guangdong's population mainly speak Yue Chinese languages, the most famous being Cantonese. ("Canton" itself is derived from the Portuguese interpretation of the dialectal pronunciation of "Guangdong".) They are spoken in the western half of the province, including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Foshan, as well as the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau (see below). The middle and northern half are Hakka territory, whereas the far eastern part speak Southern Min languages. The people from the Leizhou Peninsula in the western end, jutting out into Hainan, also speak Min languages, albeit of a different subbranch.
The earliest waves of Chinese emigration to the West came from the Siyi, or Seiyap (literally "four counties"), the four counties of Xinhui, Taishan, Kaiping, and Enping. As recently at thee 1980's, about 70% of Chinese-Americans were of Taishanese origin. As such, Taishanese^note a Yue language related, but not mutuably intelligible, with Cantonese and Cantonese became lingua francas of the Chinese-American communities, although Standard Mandarin is becoming more widespread as more immigrants from other parts of China come to the states. Many English words from Chinese, such as dim sum (点心) and bok choy (白菜) come from Cantonese.
Northern Guangdong is site to Mount Danxia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its, um, phallic◊ and vulvar-shaped◊ stones. Another World Heritage Site is the Kaiping Diaolou, hundreds of multistory watchtowers in Kaiping built during the early modern period.

Guangxi (广西, Guǎngxī)

Guangxi is one of two Chinese provincial-level subdivisions that shares a significant land border with Southeast Asia, which can be seen with the the Zhuang people of this autonomous region, who speak a Tai language related to Thai and Lao. The Zhuang are the largest ethnic minority in China, and most Zhuang live in Guangxi, although some live in neighboring provinces. Guangxi was formerly a provincee before being converted to a autonomous region in 1958.

Hainan (海南, Hǎinán)

The southernmost province of China, and the only one located on an island. It's numerous beaches make it a popular tourist destination, with over 76 million tourists in 2018. The city of Sanya, located on the south of the island, in particular is a popular tourist destination. Hainan is also China's newest province, splitting off from Guangdong in 1988.

Henan (河南, Hénán)

The historical heart of the Chinese civilization, Henan is site to Yinxu, where oracle bones of Shang, the earliest Chinese dynasty with proven historicity, were unearthed. Yinxu was the last capital of Shang before its deposition by Zhou. Also in Henan are Luoyang (capital of Eastern Zhou, Eastern Han, Cao Wei, Western Jin, Northern Wei, and Wu Zhou) and Kaifeng (capital of the Northern Song). Kaifeng was also home to the Kaifeng Jews, the oldest Chinese-speaking Jewish community. There are still around 600-1000 Jews left in Kaifeng.
Henan is also known as the home of the Shaolin Monastery, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and Shaolin Kung Fu.

Hong Kong (香港, Xiānggǎng)

Hubei (湖北, Húběi)

Nowadays, Hubei, specifically the capital of Wuhan, has gained some international notoriety as the place where the COVID-19 Pandemic was first documented. On a positive note, the province is home to the Three Gorges Dam and a card game called Dou dizhu. Dongfeng Motor Corporation, one of the country's Big Four automakers and a Fortune Global 500 company, is headquartered in Wuhan.

Hunan (湖南, Húnán)

Mao Zedong was from Shaoshan, a city southwest of provincial capital Changsha. The city of Changsha has commemorated Mao with an absolutely massive statue of Mao in his younger years on Orange Island in the Xiang River. Hunan is also home to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which is well known for its striking sandstone pillars unlike anyone else in the world. The landscape of Pandora in Avatar was inspired by the sandstone pillars of Zhangjiajie. Hunan is also home to Fenghuang Ancient Town, a remarkably well-preserved ancient town dating back to the Ming Dynasty, as well as a gathering place for the Tujia and Miao ethnic minorities.
Hunan is known for its spicy cuisine. Many Chinese restaurants in America cook Hunanese-style cuisine, or at least claim to^ExplanationWhen Richard Nixon visited Mao in the 1970s, whenever Nixon came across a dish he particularly liked, he would ask Mao where it was from. Mao would always claim that the dish came from Hunan.

Macau (澳門, Àomén)

Chongqing (重庆, Chóngqìng)

The hilly municipality of Chongqing was split off from the eastern border of Sichuan in 1997, and thus the two areas share a common cultural background (e.g. hot and numbingly-spicy cuisine). However, the city itself has had an interesting history, which includes being the backup capital of the Republic of China after Nanking/Nanjing fell to the Japanese in the Second Sino-Japanese War and for the rest of World War II. Geographically the size of Austria, it is technically the largest city proper in the world, although much of the city's land area is rural.

Guizhou (贵州, Guìzhōu)

Sichuan (四川, Sìchuān)

The province's geography can be divided in two. The eastern half is made up of the Sichuan Basin, a highly fertile lowland barricaded by mountains on all sides, anchored by the cities of Chengdu to the west and Chongqing to the southeast. The source of their fertility is a river system that drains into the Yangtze, which crosses Chongqing. The western half is the highly mountainous and rugged Hengduan Mountains, part of the Tibetan Plateau. It was formerly part of Tibet until reorganization by the PRC following its annexation of Tibet in 1950 broke up the former country into three separate regions: Tibet, southern Qinghai, and western Sichuan. Previously, the Chinese claimed the territory as part of the Xikang province, a status that is still maintained by the Republican government in Taiwan.
Sichuan's damp climate leads to the ubiquity of spiciness in its local food, known internationally as the Szechwan cuisine. Kung pao chicken (宫保鸡丁, Gōngbǎo jīdīng) is a classic Chinese dish in the West, while mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐, mápó dòufu) is a stereotypical "random spicy food" in Japanese pop culture.
In 1640s, the province witnessed an infamous massacre/autogenocide by Zhang Xianzhong, who led a peasant revolt against the Qing dynasty. It's believed that Sichuan was depopulated by as much as 75% by the time the Qing successfully put down the rebellion, with the city of Chengdu reputedly becoming a Ghost City frequented by tigers. The Qing settled the province with people from Northern China, which is why the population currently speak Mandarin, despite the region being technically Southern Chinese. In spite of this, though most Sichuanese are genetically northern, they are culturally southern and are thus treated as southerners.
Sichuan has five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the world's largest panda sanctuary and tallest premodern statue, the 71 meter-high Leshan Giant Buddha. The statue faces Mount Emei, one of the four sacred mountains in Chinese Buddhism. Another world heritage site, Mount Qingcheng, is one of the four sacred mountains in Taoism.
Deng Xiaoping, architect of modern China, was from Guang'an, east of Chengdu.

Tibet (西藏, Xīzàng)

Yunnan (云南, Yúnnán)

Yunnan is one of the most ethnically diverse provinces of China, with 25 of China's 56 recognized ethnic minorities living in Yunnan, and 38% of Yunnan's population belonging to one of the ethnic minorities. Yunnan is one of two provincial-level divisions to share a significant land border with Southeast Asia, and the Dai people of Xishuangbanna speak a Tai language related to Thai and Lao. Yunnan has also been identified as the birthplace of tea.

Gansu (甘肃, Gānsù)

A large province situated in the mid-west of the country, Gansu represented, for most of history, the western frontier of Chinese civilization. Although many Chinese states and empires were able to capture areas further west in Xinjiang, they never truly managed to Sinicize them until the twentieth century. China proper, as people knew it, stopped at the Jade Gate, the western end of the Great Wall, which is located not far away from Dunhuang, the westernmost city of Gansu.
The Hexi Corridor that gives Gansu its elongated diagonal shape was part of the historical Silk Road, linking China proper with Central Asia. The corridor consists of a network of oasis towns sandwiched between the Mongolian deserts to the north and the Tibetan highlands to the south. Buddhism came to China through Gansu, and fittingly, there are many Buddhist monasteries and grottoes dotting all along the Hexi Corridor. The most famous is the Mogao Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ningxia (宁夏, زِجِ‌ٿِيُوِ, Níngxià)

An autonomous region reserved for the Hui people, Chinese-speaking Muslims, who make up 34% of the population. Its environment is mainly dry and desert-like, being located on the doorstep of the Gobi Desert. During The High Middle Ages, Yinchuan (then known as Xingqing) was the capital of Western Xia, a dynasty that ruled over northwestern China following the chaotic Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era, coexisting with the Han-dominated Song. The dynasty's ruling class were the Tanguts, a Sino-Tibetan people related to the indigenous people of Qinghai, who wrote with a strange script that looked similar to Hanzi but were incomprehensible to the Han. The Western Xia were, alongside the Khwarezmians, one of the notable victims of Genghis Khan's march across Asia, in that their attempt to flip off the Great Khan ended with their complete destruction as both a state and nation.

Qinghai (青海, Qīnghǎi)

Shaanxi (陕西, Shǎnxī)

The extremely ancient city of Xi'an (formerly Chang'an), located in the fertile Wei River valley, was historically the capital of some of the most defining and monumental empires in Chinese history. The Zhou dynasty's first capital, Fenghao, stood somewhere in the city's southwest, Qin Shi Huangdi based his newfound Qin Empire from Xianyang, immediately to the west of Chang'an, and since then, the dynasties of Han, Sui, and Tang all chose to center themselves in Chang'an. It marked the starting (or ending, for travelers from the west) point of the Silk Road. The mausoleum of Qin Shi Huangdi has the famous terracotta army, and is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Today, the province has a growing industrial sector, with Xi'an being the home of two Fortune Global 500 companies that specialize in chemical, coal, and petroleum production.
As for its name, using the Pinyin romanization without diacritics could cause it to be easily confused with Shanxi, thus for the sake of disambiguation this province adopted its romanized name according to Gwoyeu Romatzyh, an obscure system that uses spelling variations based on the tone of the syllable (using the same scheme, Shanxi [Shānxī] would be romanized as "Shanshi").

Xinjiang (新疆, Xīnjiāng)