Autonomous regions of China

An autonomous region (AR; simplified Chinese: 自治区; traditional Chinese: 自治區; pinyin: zìzhìqū) is a first-level administrative division of China. Like Chinese provinces, an autonomous region has its own local government, but an autonomous region has more legislative rights. An autonomous region is the highest level of minority autonomous entity in China, which has a comparably higher population of a particular minority ethnic group.

Autonomous region 自治区 Zìzhìqū
Category	Unitary state
Location	People's Republic of China
Number	5
Populations	3,002,166 (Tibet Autonomous Region) – 46,026,629 (Guangxi)
Areas	66,000 km^2 (25,600 sq mi) (Ningxia) – 1,665,000 km^2 (642,800 sq mi) (Xinjiang)
Government	Single-party government
Subdivisions	Prefecture-level city, Prefecture, League, Sub-Provincial Autonomous Prefecture, Autonomous Prefecture

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was established in 1947, Xinjiang was made autonomous in 1955, and Guangxi and Ningxia were made autonomous in 1958. Tibet was officially annexed in 1951, and was named a Chinese Autonomous Zone in 1965. The designation of Guangxi and Ningxia as Zhuang and Hui autonomous areas, respectively, was bitterly protested by the local Han Chinese, who made up two-thirds of the population of each region. Although Mongols made up an even smaller percentage of Inner Mongolia than either of these, the ensuing Chinese Civil War gave little opportunity for protest.[1]

List of autonomous regions

Designated minority	Name in English	Simplified Chinese Pinyin	Local name SASM/GNC romanization (Language)	Abbreviation	Capital	Language
Zhuang	Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region	广西壮族自治区 Guǎngxī Zhuàngzú Zìzhìqū	Gvangjsih Bouxcuengh Swcigih (Standard Zhuang/Zhuang)	桂 Guì (GZAR)	Nanning (南宁; Nanzningz)	Zhuang, Standard Zhuang language (Vahcuengh)
Mongol	Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Nei Mongol Autonomous Region)	内蒙古自治区 Nèi Měnggǔ Zìzhìqū	ᠦᠪᠦᠷ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠤᠯ ᠤᠨ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠣ ᠣᠷᠣᠨ Öbür mongüol-un öbertegen zasaqu orun (Mongolian)	内蒙古 Nèi Měnggǔ (IMAR)	Hohhot (呼和浩特; ᠬᠥᠬᠡᠬᠣᠲᠠ)	Mongolian
Tibetan	Tibet Autonomous Region Autonomous Region (Xizang Autonomous Region)	西藏自治区 Xīzàng Zìzhìqū	བོད་རང་སྐྱོང་ལྗོངས། Poi Ranggyong Jong (Standard Tibetan)	藏 Zàng (TAR)	Lhasa (拉萨; ལྷ་ས།)	Standard Tibetan
Uyghur	Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region	新疆维吾尔自治区 Xīnjiāng Wéiwú'ěr Zìzhìqū	شىنجاڭ ئۇيغۇر ئاپتونوم رايونى‎ Xinjang Uyĝur Aptonom Rayoni (Uyghur)	新 Xīn (XUAR)	Ürümqi (乌鲁木齐; ئۈرۈمچی‎)	Uyghur
Hui	Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region	宁夏回族自治区 Níngxià Huízú Zìzhìqū	The Hui speak Chinese	宁 Níng (NHAR)	Yinchuan (银川)	Dungan, Chinese

Statistics

Population

Administrative Division	National Share (%)	2010 Census[2]	2000 Census[3]	1990 Census[4]	1982 Census[5]	1964 Census[6]	1954 Census[7]
Guangxi	3.5	46,026,629	43,854,538	42,245,765	36,420,960	20,845,017	19,560,822
Inner Mongolia	1.9	24,706,321	23,323,347	21,456,798	19,274,279	12,348,638	6,100,104
Ningxia	0.5	6,176,900	5,486,393	4,655,451	3,895,578	*	*
Tibet Autonomous Region	0.2	3,002,166	2,616,329	2,196,010	1,892,393	1,251,225	1,273,969
Xinjiang	1.6	21,813,334	18,459,511	15,155,778	13,081,681	7,270,067	4,873,608

Ethnic composition of Autonomous Regions (%, 2000)

Administrative Division	Titular Ethnic Group	Han Chinese	Third Largest Ethnic Group
Xinjiang (Uyghur)	45.21%	40.58%	6.74% (Kazakh)
Tibet (Tibetan)	92.8%	6.1%	0.35% (Hui)
Inner Mongolia (Mongol)	17.13%	79.17%	2.14% (Manchu)
Ningxia (Hui)	33.9%	65.5 %	1.16% (Manchu)
Guangxi (Zhuang)	32.0%	62.0 %	3.0% (Yao)

Note: In the "Third Largest Ethnic Group" column is the ethnic group given in brackets, after the names of the autonomous regions and Han people.

See also

• Administrative divisions of China
  • Provinces of China
  • Special administrative regions of China
• Standard Chinese
• Language Atlas of China
• Autonomous administrative division

Literature

• Regional Autonomy for Ethnic Minorities in China

References

1. Dreyer, June Teufel (1997). "Assimilation and Accommodation in China". In Brown, Michael Edward; Ganguly, Šumit (eds.). Government Policies and Ethnic Relations in Asia and the Pacific. MIT Press. p. 365.
2. "Communiqué of the National Bureau of Statistics of People's Republic of China on Major Figures of the 2010 Population Census". National Bureau of Statistics of China. Archived from the original on 2013-07-27.
3. 现将2000年第五次全国人口普查快速汇总的人口地区分布数据公布如下. National Bureau of Statistics of China. Archived from the original on 2012-08-29.
4. 中华人民共和国国家统计局关于一九九〇年人口普查主要数据的公报. National Bureau of Statistics of China. Archived from the original on 2012-06-19.
5. 中华人民共和国国家统计局关于一九八二年人口普查主要数字的公报. National Bureau of Statistics of China. Archived from the original on 2012-05-10.
6. 第二次全国人口普查结果的几项主要统计数字. National Bureau of Statistics of China. Archived from the original on 2012-09-14.
7. 中华人民共和国国家统计局关于第一次全国人口调查登记结果的公报. National Bureau of Statistics of China. Archived from the original on 2009-08-05.