Administrative division codes of the People's Republic of China

Coding scheme

Reading from left to right, administrative division codes contain the following information:

• The first and second digits identify the highest level administrative division, which may be a province, autonomous region, municipality or Special Administrative Region (SAR).
• Digits three and four show summary data for the associated prefecture-level city, prefecture (地区 dìqū), autonomous prefecture, Mongolian league, municipal city district or county. Codes 01 – 20 and 51 – 70 identify provincial level cities, codes 21 – 50 represent prefectures, autonomous prefectures and Mongolian leagues.
• The fifth and sixth digits represent the county-level division – city district, county-level city, county and the banner area of Inner Mongolia. Codes 01 – 18 represent municipal districts or regions (autonomous prefectures and Mongolian leagues) under the jurisdiction of county-level cities. Codes 21 – 80 stand for counties and Mongolian banner areas while codes 81 – 99 represent county level cities directly administered by a province.