A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French comté denoting a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count (earl) or a viscount. Literal equivalents in other languages, derived from the equivalent of "count", are now seldom used officially, including comté, contea, contado, comtat, condado, Grafschaft, graafschap, and zhupa in Slavic languages; terms equivalent to 'commune' or 'community' are now often instead used.
A prefecture is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international church structures, as well as in antiquity a Roman district.
Japan is divided into 47 prefectures, which rank immediately below the national government and form the country's first level of jurisdiction and administrative division. They include 43 prefectures proper, two urban prefectures, one regional prefecture and one metropolis. In 1868, the Meiji Fuhanken sanchisei administration created the first prefectures to replace the urban and rural administrators in the parts of the country previously controlled directly by the shogunate and a few territories of rebels/shogunate loyalists who had not submitted to the new government such as Aizu/Wakamatsu. In 1871, all remaining feudal domains (han) were also transformed into prefectures, so that prefectures subdivided the whole country. In several waves of territorial consolidation, today's 47 prefectures were formed by the turn of the century. In many instances, these are contiguous with the ancient ritsuryō provinces of Japan.
The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there are five levels of local government; the provincial, prefecture, county, township, and village.
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions of municipalities, school district, or political district.
A sub-provincial division in China is a prefecture-level city governed by a province promoted by half-a-level. Thus, it is half-a-level under the provincial level, and half-a-level above the prefecture-level, hence the name "sub-provincial".
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.
Wanzhou District is Chongqing's second most populated urban core area on the upper reaches of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River in China. It is currently governed as a district of Chongqing Municipality, bordering Sichuan to the northwest and Hubei to the southeast. It was formerly known as Wanxian or Wan County. Prior to Chongqing's formation as a direct-controlled municipality, Wanzhou was part of Sichuan province. The urban core of Wanzhou is 228 km (142 mi) away from Chongqing's city proper.
A county-level municipality, county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city, 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 subdistrict is one of the smaller administrative divisions of China. It is a form of township-level division which is typically part of a larger urban area, as opposed to a discrete town surrounded by rural areas, or a rural township.
Suizhou, formerly Sui County, is a prefecture-level city in northern Hubei province, People's Republic of China, bordering Henan province to the north and east.
Aihui District is an administrative district and the seat of the prefecture-level city of Heihe, Heilongjiang Province, China. It is located on the right (south-western) bank of the Amur River, across which is Blagoveshchensk, Amur Oblast, Russia. Aihui District spans an area of 1,443 km2 (557 sq mi), and had a population of 192,764 as of 2000.
Furong District is one of six urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Changsha, Hunan Province, China. It is the smallest district of Changsha by area. Furong District is a part of the core of the Changsha urban area, located in the midst of the city. The district is bordered by Yuhua District to the south, Changsha County to the east, Kaifu District to the northwest, and Tianxin District to the southwest. Furong covers 42.68 km2 (16.48 sq mi) with population of 539,200, registered population of 403,948. The district has 13 subdistricts under its jurisdiction, the government seat is at Dongtundu subdistrict.
Yuhua District is one of six urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, China. The district is bordered by Yuetang District of Xiangtan to the south, Changsha County to the east, Furong District to the north, Tianxin District to the west. Located in the southern central Changsha, Yuhua covers 304.9 km2 (117.7 sq mi) with population of 764,700. The district has 12 subdistricts and 1 town under its jurisdiction, its jurisdiction, its administrative centre is at Guitang subdistrict.
Huimin District is one of four districts of the prefecture-level city of Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, North China. The district is designated as a Hui ethnic district.
Districts are administrative subdivisions of the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s special municipalities of the second level and provincial cities of the third level formerly under its provinces. There are two types of district in the administrative scheme.
A county, constitutionally known as a hsien, is a de jure second-level administrative division unit in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Under the administrative structure of Taiwan, it is with the same level of a provincial city.
The history of the administrative divisions of China after 1949 refers to the administrative divisions under the People's Republic of China. In 1949, the communist forces initially held scattered fragments of China at the start of the Chinese Civil War. By late 1949, they controlled the majority of mainland China, forcing the Republic of China government to relocate to Taiwan.
A provincial-controlled division, is an unofficial designation for a type of administrative division of China. Every provincial-controlled divisions is officially considered to be a county-level city or county, but it has more power de facto because it is directly under the province similar to prefectural-level divisions.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) is divided into 2,854 county-level divisions which rank below prefectures/provinces and above townships as the third-level administrative division in the country. Of these, 2,842 are located in territory controlled by the PRC, while 172 are located in land controlled by the Republic of China (ROC).
