China has 22 provinces (sheng), five autonomous regions (zizhiqu), and four municipalities (shi).

The provinces are, in the northeast: Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning; in the north: Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shaanxi; in central China: Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, and Zhejiang; in the south: Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, and Hainan (an island in the South China Sea); in the southwest: Guizhou, Yunnan, and Sichuan; and in the northwest: Gansu and Qinghai.

The autonomous regions—Guangxi Zhuang, Tibet (Xizang), Xinjiang Uygur, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia Hui—are in border areas with large non-Han ethnic minority populations from which they take their names or part of their names. The four municipalities—Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing—are directly controlled by the central government.

China also has two special administrative regions (SARs): Hong Kong, which reverted from British control in 1997; and Macau, which reverted from Portuguese control in 1999. Beijing also claims Taiwan as a province.

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