Chinese History and Statistics -- Page 3

Political Divisions

China is divided into 24 provinces (including Taiwan) and 5 autonomous border regions, where other ethnic groups constitute a majority of the population. For ease of reference the provinces and autonomous regions are usually grouped into 6 large administrative regions. These units are as follows: (1) the Northeastern Region, which includes the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning); (2) the Northern Region, which includes the provinces of Hebei and Shanxi, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Nei Menggu), and the centrally controlled municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin; (3) the Eastern Region, which includes the provinces of Shandong, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, and Fujian, and the centrally controlled municipality of Shanghai; (4) the South Central Region, which includes the provinces of Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, and Guangdong, and the Guangxi Autonomous Region; (5) the Southwestern Region, which includes the provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, and the Xizang (Tibetan) Autonomous Region and the centrally controlled municipality of Chongqing; (6) the Northwestern Region, which includes the provinces of Sha'anxi, Gansu, and Qinghai and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

Written History

China's written history begins during the 16th century BC with the Shang dynasty (c.1600-c.1027 BC). Since then, China has been ruled, until modern times, by a series of dynasties. After the fall of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty in 1912, a republic was established.