Province-level divisions in List of Chinese provinces and regions
A full list of province-level divisions is:
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Province ? capital
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Autonomous region ? capital
Municipalities
Special Administrative Regions
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In pairs Guangxi/Guangdong and Shanxi/Shandong, xi is West and dong is East. "Shan" means mountain, referring to Mount Tai.
In pairs Henan/Hebei and Hunan/Hubei Henan/Hebei, nan is South and bei is North. "He" means river, referring to the Yellow River. "Hu" is lake, referring to the big lake near Changde.
Taiwan is a special case. At the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, the Communists held most of China and the defeated Nationalists held only Taiwan, the Pescadores and a few islands in the South China Sea. That situation continues to this day; Taiwan has had a separate government for 60 years. While listed as a province in the P.R.C., from the practical traveler's point of view, it is a separate country with its own visas, currency and so on. However, both governments agree that Taiwan is part of China and both, at least in principle, support reunification.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about List of Chinese provinces and regions
