Counties of China
Counties (simplified Chinese: 县; traditional Chinese: 縣; pinyin: Xiàn) are found in the third level of the administrative hierarchy in provinces and autonomous regions and the second level in municipalities and Hainan, a level that is known as "county level" and also contains autonomous counties, county-level cities, banners, autonomous banners and city districts. There are 1,355 counties in mainland China out of a total of 2,851 county-level divisions.
County
县
Xiàn
Third level administrative division of a unitary state
1,319 (1,307 controlled, 11 claimed) (as of 2023)
- Various, Central Government
县级行政区
縣級行政區
Xiàn Jí Xíngzhèngqū
Xiàn Jí Xíngzhèngqū
县
縣
Xiàn
Xiàn
རྫོང་།
(formerly 宗 in Chinese)
rdzong
rdzong
Zong
Yen
현
hyeon
hyeon
hyŏn
Шянь
ᠰᠢᠶᠠᠨ
siyan
siyan
ناھىيە
Nahiye
Nahiye
Nah̡iyə
Naĥiyə
ᡥᡳᠶᠠᠨ
hiyan
اۋدان
аудан
audan
وودان
оодан
oodan
The term xian is sometimes translated as "district" or "prefecture" when put in the context of Chinese history.
Government[edit]
As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is central to directing government policy in mainland China, every level of administrative division has a local CCP committee. A county's is called the secretary (中共县委书记), the de facto highest office of the county. Policies are carried out via the people's government of the county, and its head is called the county governor (县长). The governor is often also one of the deputy secretaries in the CCP Committee.