There are many discussions on the discussions on sub-provincial cities on the Internet. Many people think that sub-provincial cities are very powerful, second only to municipalities directly under the central government. However, many people don’t know that the 15 sub-provincial cities in my country can be divided into two categories, namely, independent planning cities and provincial capital cities. So what is the relationship between sub-provincial cities, independent planning cities and provincial capital cities?
In my country's local administrative divisions, they can basically be divided into four levels: provincial, prefecture-level, county-level and township-level. The so-called provincial level refers to provincial administrative region , including provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. The prefecture level is the prefecture-level administrative district , including the prefecture-level cities and sub-provincial cities , as well as the jurisdiction of the municipality directly under the central government. The county level is a county-level administrative district, including county-level cities and prefecture-level districts. As for the township level, there is no need to explain it.
It can also be seen from here that sub-provincial cities belong to the prefecture-level administrative district sequence, which is higher than prefecture-level cities in terms of rank. Ordinary prefecture-level cities are at the department level, while sub-provincial cities are at the deputy ministerial level. There are 15 sub-provincial cities in the country: Guangzhou, Wuhan, Harbin, Shenyang, Chengdu, Nanjing, Xi'an, Changchun, Jinan, Hangzhou, Dalian, Qingdao , Shenzhen, Xiamen , Ningbo . They are all deputy ministerial-level cadres, and the secretaries, mayors, directors of the National People's Congress and chairman of the CPPCC are all deputy ministerial-level cadres.
From the perspective of category, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Harbin, Shenyang, Chengdu, Nanjing, Xi'an, Changchun, Jinan and Hangzhou are provincial capitals, and the five sub-provincial cities, Dalian, Qingdao, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Ningbo are independent cities. Therefore, it can be said that cities with independent planning status must be sub-provincial cities, while sub-provincial cities include two categories: cities with independent planning status and provincial capital cities.
The provincial capital is the administrative center of the province (provincial government headquarters) and is the political, economic, science, education, culture and transportation center of the national first-level administrative regions (usually provinces and autonomous regions). my country's first-level administrative regions include not only provinces, but also autonomous regions, municipalities and special administrative regions. Their administrative centers are not called provincial capitals, among which the administrative bases of autonomous regions are usually called capitals. Of course, in our language and culture, the capital and provincial capital have completely the same meaning.
A city with independent planning status, full name is National Social and Economic Development Status City . Its management is subject to dual leadership of the central government and the province where it is located, but it is mainly provincial leaders and has economic management authority equivalent to the provincial level.
Since the city is mentioned as a separate city, I will explain it by the way. The so-called planned cities are in the era of planned economy. In the era of planned economy, the state grants certain provincial-level cities the authority to manage economically and separately include them in the central finance and are not included in the finances of the province. It can also be seen here that the independent planned city is a product of the planned economy, and it emphasizes the effectiveness of fiscal economy, rather than the authority in social management.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, my country has successively identified 14 cities with independent planning status, namely Shenyang, Dalian, Changchun, Harbin, Nanjing, Ningbo, Xiamen, Qingdao, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Xi'an. This list shows that they basically coincide with the current 15 sub-provincial cities, and the determined level is indeed sub-provincial and belongs to economically developed cities. In 1993, the central government removed the planned cities with the same provincial capital city from the list of planned cities, and announced that Hangzhou and Jinan were promoted to sub-provincial levels. After Chongqing was directly under the jurisdiction of the government in 1997, the central government no longer approved the establishment of new municipalities with independent planning status, nor did it establish new sub-provincial cities.
It can be seen from this that the current sub-provincial cities are basically developed from cities with independent planning status. Due to the influence of relevant policies, the current sub-provincial cities are divided into provincial capitals and independent cities, these two sequences. There are 27 provincial capitals in my country (capitals of the autonomous region), of which only 10 are sub-provincial cities, and all are prefecture-level cities.
The main positioning of the provincial capital is the provincial administrative center. The provincial leadership agencies are basically set up in provincial capital cities, including the provincial party committee, provincial government, provincial people's congress and provincial CPPCC, as well as their subordinate units, all working in the provincial capital. It is also because of this that provincial capital cities are also central in other aspects including politics, economy, science and education, culture, transportation, etc. Cities with independent planning status generally have good geographical conditions, and their main development direction is economy, generally regional economic centers. There may be a certain gap with provincial capital cities in terms of politics, science, education, culture, etc.
provincial capital city does not necessarily be a sub-provincial city, and a sub-provincial city does not necessarily be a provincial capital city. However, as a prefecture-level city in a provincial capital, it still has many advantages compared to ordinary prefecture-level cities (non-provincial capital cities). The secretary of the prefecture-level city in the provincial capital will definitely serve as a member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and is at the vice-ministerial level. If this provincial capital is at the vice-provincial level, then the secretary is likely to be the deputy secretary of the provincial party committee. Of course, it is possible that the provincial party committee standing committee member is also possible.
Similarly, the secretary of the city with independent planning status will also serve as a member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee. In prefecture-level cities that are not sub-provincial and non-provincial capital cities, it is rare for the secretary to serve as a member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee. It mainly occurs in cities with very developed economies or very important status in the province. For example, the secretary of the municipal party committee of Suzhou has served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee of Jiangsu for a long time. In addition to Suzhou and Jiangsu, there are similar arrangements. It is a practice for the municipal party secretary of one or two important cities in the province to serve as a member of the provincial party committee standing committee in this province.
As time goes by, the identity of a sub-provincial city cannot explain the problem. In Suzhou, Suzhou is not a sub-provincial city, but its total economic output exceeds that of most sub-provincial cities. Moreover, several sub-provincial cities in the north are surpassed by many non-sub-provincial cities in the south in terms of urban development. This is all proof.
Among prefecture-level cities, Suzhou, Wuxi , Foshan , Nantong and other cities are developing very rapidly, especially Suzhou. The economy has been in the top ten in the country all year round, and it often ranks 6th. Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing and other cities are behind it. It can be seen that the economy of Suzhou is really too strong. It is the only city in China that has exceeded 2 trillion yuan.
planned cities or sub-provincial cities are actually just products of the planned economy era and it is impossible to continue to increase. If a prefecture-level city wants to become a sub-provincial city, it involves many things and the procedures are very complicated. What’s more important is that it is not necessary at all. So over the years, my country still has only 15 sub-provincial cities, and it has not continued to increase.
