PROVINCES 省中华人民共和国

‘China’ traditionally consists of 23 provinces. In 1949, the nationalist Kuomintang 国民党, representing the Republic of China 中华民国, were defeated in the Chinese Civil War 国共内战 by the Communist Party 共产党, representing the People’s Republic of China 中华人民共和国.

Since 1949, the People’s Republic of China governs 22 of the provinces and the Republic of China governs the entirety of Taiwan 台湾 province and some islands of Fujian 福建 province.

Since each government subdivides their provinces differently, this course just focuses on territory governed by the PRC. The ROC’s divisions are covered in a separate course (link below).

As mentioned in the first multimedia level, the provinces are divided for the most part into cities, with some other prefecture- and county-level divisions.