Villages of China

Villages (Chinese: 村; pinyin: Cūn), formally village-level divisions (村级行政区; Cūn Jí Xíngzhèngqū) in China, serve as a fundamental organizational unit for its rural population (census, mail system). Basic local divisions like neighborhoods and communities are not informal, but have defined boundaries and designated heads (one per area). In 2000, China's densely populated villages (>100 persons/square km) had a population greater than 500 million and covered more than 2 million square kilometers, or more than 20% of China's total area.^[1] By 2020, all incorporated villages (with proper conditions making it possible) had road access, the last village to be connected being a remote village in Sichuan province's Butuo County.^[2]

formally Village-level divisions
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	村级行政区
Traditional Chinese	村級行政區
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Cūn Jí Xíngzhèngqū
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese	村
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Cūn
Second alternative Chinese name
Chinese	嘎查
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Gāchá
Tibetan name
Tibetan	གྲོང་ཚོ
Transcriptions Wylie grong tsho Tibetan Pinyin Chongco
Zhuang name
Zhuang	Cunh
Mongolian name
Mongolian Cyrillic	тосгон (typical villages, 村) гацаа (gatsaa) translate as Gaqa(嘎查)
Mongolian script	ᠲᠣᠰᠬᠣᠨ ᠭᠠᠴᠠᠭ᠎ᠠ
Transcriptions SASM/GNC togson gaqaa
Uyghur name
Uyghur	كەنت‎
Transcriptions Latin Yëziqi kent
Kazakh name
Kazakh	قىستاق қыстақ qıstaq
Kyrgyz name
Kyrgyz	قىشتاق кыштак kıştak

Types of villages

Urban

• Residential community (simplified Chinese: 社区; traditional Chinese: 社區; pinyin: shèqū)
  • Residents' committee (simplified Chinese: 居民委员会; traditional Chinese: 居民委員會; pinyin: jūmín wěiyuánhuì)
    • Residential groups (simplified Chinese: 居民小组; traditional Chinese: 居民小組; pinyin: jūmín xiǎozǔ

Note

Urban village (Chinese: 城中村; pinyin: chéngzhōngcūn) one that spontaneously and naturally exists within urban area, which is not an administrative division.

Rural

A typical rural village in Hainan, China

The building housing the local village committee and other government offices and organizations in Baiwan Village, Xiqiuwan Township, Badong County, Hubei

• Administrative village or Village (Chinese: 行政村 or 村; pinyin: xíngzhèngcūn or cūn)
• Hamlet or Band (Chinese: 屯; pinyin: tún)
• Gacha (Chinese: 嘎查; pinyin: gāchá) only for Inner Mongolia.
• Ranch (Chinese: 牧委会; pinyin: mùwěihuì) only for Qinghai.
• Ethnic village (Chinese: 民族村; pinyin: mínzúcūn) only for village populated by Ethnic minority.
  • Village committees (simplified Chinese: 村民委员会; traditional Chinese: 村民委員會; pinyin: cūnmín wěiyuánhuì)
    • Villager groups (simplified Chinese: 村民小组; traditional Chinese: 村民小組; pinyin: cūnmín xiǎozǔ)

Note

Natural village (Chinese: 自然村; pinyin: zìráncūn) one that spontaneously and naturally exists within rural area, which is not an administrative division.

Lists of village-level divisions

Villages (村)

List of villages in China

Provinces

• List of village-level divisions of Anhui
• List of village-level divisions of Fujian
• List of village-level divisions of Gansu
• List of village-level divisions of Guangdong
• List of village-level divisions of Guizhou
• List of village-level divisions of Hainan
• List of village-level divisions of Hebei
• List of village-level divisions of Heilongjiang
• List of village-level divisions of Henan
• List of village-level divisions of Hubei
• List of village-level divisions of Hunan
• List of village-level divisions of Jiangsu
• List of village-level divisions of Jiangxi
• List of village-level divisions of Jilin
• List of village-level divisions of Liaoning
• List of village-level divisions of Qinghai
• List of village-level divisions of Shaanxi
• List of village-level divisions of Shandong
• List of village-level divisions of Shanxi
• List of village-level divisions of Sichuan
• List of village-level divisions of Yunnan
• List of village-level divisions of Zhejiang

Autonomous areas

• List of village-level divisions of Guangxi
• List of village-level divisions of Inner Mongolia
• List of village-level divisions of Ningxia
• List of village-level divisions of the Tibet Autonomous Region
• List of village-level divisions of Xinjiang

Municipalities

• List of village-level divisions of Beijing
• List of village-level divisions of Chongqing
• List of village-level divisions of Shanghai
• List of village-level divisions of Tianjin

See also

• Ethnic villages of China
• Organic Law of Village Committees
• Urban-type settlement, a similar concept used in the Soviet Union and present day Russia

References

1. Ellis 2004.
2. "Paved road links China's "last village" with outside world - Xinhua | English.news.cn". Archived from the original on July 5, 2020.

Bibliography

• Ellis, E.C. (2004). DeFries, R. S.; Asner, G. P.; Houghton, R. A. (eds.). "Long-term ecological changes in the densely populated rural landscapes of China" (PDF). Geophysical Monographs. Ecosystems and Land Use Change. 153. Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union: 303–320. Bibcode:2004GMS...153..303E. doi:10.1029/153GM23. ISBN 0-87590-418-1.
• Joseph Esherick; Mary Backus Rankin; Joint Committee on Chinese Studies (U.S.) (1990). Chinese Local Elites and Patterns of Dominance. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-06763-9.
• Roxann Prazniak (1 January 1999). Of Camel Kings and Other Things: Rural Rebels Against Modernity in Late Imperial China. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8476-9007-7.

External links

• Chinese Village Government Information Network
• Two Chinese Villages, Two Views of Rural Poverty
• Long-term changes in China's village landscapes are changing the world