The historical map of China's prefecture-level cities and county-level cities (end of 1999)

Map Source

The online historical map of "County-level Cities Administered by Prefecture-level Cities in China (as of the end of 1999)" is sourced from the Atlas of the Evolution of the Administrative Divisions of the People's Republic of China. This is a thematic atlas detailing the changes and status of administrative divisions over the 50 years of New China. It was authored by Chen Chao and Chen Hongling and published by SinoMaps Press. The scale of this map is 1:21,700,000.

Evolution of the City-Administering-City System (1949–1999)

In 1954, Lüda City in Liaoning Province administered Lüshun City, marking the first instance in China of a prefecture-level city administering a county-level city. After 1978, with the increase in the number of county-level cities, the administrative model of prefecture-level cities administering county-level cities became more common. By the end of 1999, 11 prefecture-level cities—Yingkou, Taizhou, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Qingdao, Zaozhuang, Weihai, Guangzhou, Jiangmen, and Foshan—had achieved a structure where they administered all county-level cities within their territory, accounting for approximately 5% of all prefecture-level cities nationwide. A further 131 prefecture-level cities administered some county-level cities, representing about 55% of the national total. Overall, county-level cities administered by prefecture-level cities constituted 69% of all county-level cities in China.

Related Links

• Online Historical Map of Counties Administered by Municipalities and Prefecture-level Cities in China (as of the end of 1999)
• Online Historical Map of Prefecture-City Mergers in China (as of the end of 1999)