When referring to political divisions of China, town is the standard English translation of the Chinese zhen. It is a fourth-level administrative unit, i.e. one of the units into which counties and districts are divided.

In 1995 there were 29,502 townships and 17,532 towns (a total of 47,034 township-level divisions) in China. They are similar to municipalities and communes in other countries and in turn may contain village committees and villages.

In the PRC's dual governance system, the township's governance is divided between the Communist Party Township Secretary, and the Mayor. A town official is the lowest-level ranked official in the CPC government hierarchy. The town has very few defined government responsibilities, except for the Birth Planning Commission.

A town is larger, often more populous, and less remote than a township.