Sub-provincial cities refer to the administrative level of cities, not the administrative division level of cities. At present, there are 15 sub-provincial cities in China. The provinces and cities on the list are Harbin in Heilongjiang Province, Changchun in Jilin Province, Shenyang and Dalian in Liaoning Province, Jinan and Qingdao in Shandong Province, Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, Hangzhou and Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, Xiamen in Fujian Province, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, Wuhan in Hubei Province and Chengdu in Sichuan Province. Chongqing used to be a sub-provincial city, and it became a provincial municipality from 65438 to 0997.
Related background The sub-provincial cities are all transformed from cities with separate plans. 1In February, 1983, the Central Committee and the State Council approved Chongqing to implement separate plans, and then successively approved Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shenyang, Nanjing, Wuhan, Harbin, Xi 'an, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen, Ningbo and Chengdu to implement separate plans. There were 14 cities with separate plans. 1994 in may, it was deliberated and adopted at the 6th meeting of the central organization establishment committee, and approved by the central government and the State Council, and issued as document [1994] 1. It is decided that the original 14 plan will be listed separately, and Hangzhou and Jinan will be officially designated as sub-provincial cities, and the plans of some cities will be cancelled at the same time. 1February, 1995, the Central Organization Establishment Committee issued the Notice on Several Issues Concerning Sub-provincial Cities (No.5 [1995]). 1March 1997, Chongqing was upgraded from a sub-provincial city to a municipality directly under the central government.