Autonomous prefecture

Autonomous prefectures (Chinese: 自治州; pinyin: zìzhìzhōu) are one type of autonomous administrative divisions of China, existing at the prefectural level, with either ethnic minorities forming over 50% of the population or being the historic home of significant minorities. Autonomous prefectures are mostly majority Han Chinese by population. The official name of an autonomous prefecture includes the most significant minority in that region, sometimes two, rarely three. For example, a Kazakh (Kazak in official naming system) prefecture may be called Kazak Zizhizhou. Like all other prefectural level divisions, autonomous prefectures are divided into county level divisions. There is one exception: Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture contains two prefectures of its own. Under the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, autonomous prefectures cannot be abolished.

Autonomous Prefecture 自治州 Zìzhìzhōu
Category	Second level administrative division of a unitary state
Location	China
Number	30 Autonomous Prefectures

Autonomous administrative divisions

Map of all minority regions under autonomous rule designated by the Central Government

  Autonomous Region

  Autonomous Prefecture

  Autonomous County

  Autonomous Banner

  Ethnic district

China's Autonomous Regions and its Designated Ethnic Minority

The PRC's autonomous administrative divisions may be found in the first (or top) to third levels of its national administrative divisions thus:

Level	Type	Chinese	Pinyin	Number as of June 2005
Province (1)	Autonomous regions	自治区	Zìzhìqū	5
Prefecture (2)	Autonomous prefectures	自治州	Zìzhìzhōu	30
County (3)	Autonomous counties	自治县	Zìzhìxiàn	117
	(Autonomous banners)	自治旗	Zìzhìqí	3

List of autonomous prefectures

Province	Name	Simplified Chinese and Pinyin	Designated minority	Local name	Capital
Gansu	Linxia	临夏回族自治州 Línxià Huízú Zìzhìzhōu	Hui	(The Hui speak Chinese) Xiao'erjing: لٍ‌ثِیَا خُوِزُو زِجِجِوْ‎	Linxia city
Gansu	Gannan	甘南藏族自治州 Gānnán Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: ཀན་ལྷོ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ (Kan-lho Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul)	Hezuo (Hzö) city
Guizhou	Qiandongnan	黔东南苗族侗族自治州 Qiándōngnán Miáozú Dòngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Miao and Dong	Hmu: Qeef Dongb Naif Dol Yat Hmub Zid Zid Zeb Dong: Qeenc Dongs Nanc Nyenc Miiul Nyenc Gaeml Zil Zl Zous	Kaili (Kad Linx) city
Guizhou	Qiannan	黔南布依族苗族自治州 Qiánnán Bùyīzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu	Bouyei and Miao	Bouyei: Qianfnanf Buxqyaix Buxyeeuz ziqziqzouy Hmu: Qeef Naif Dol Yat Dol Hmub Zid Zid Zeb	Duyun city
Guizhou	Qianxinan	黔西南布依族苗族自治州 Qiánxī'nán Bùyīzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu	Bouyei and Miao	Bouyei: Qianfxiynanf Buxqyaix Buxyeeuz Ziqziqzouy Hmu: Qeef Xib Naif Dol Yat Dol Hmub Zid Zid Zeb	Xingyi city
Hubei	Enshi	恩施土家族苗族自治州 Ēnshī Tǔjiāzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu	Tujia and Miao	Tujia: Eng Shiv Bif Ziv Kar hev Bef Kar zouf xengv zuvз Hmong: Ee Si Thws Ca Txhwj Mioj Txhwj Txim Tsim Tsawb	Enshi city
Hunan	Xiangxi	湘西土家族苗族自治州 Xiāngxī Tǔjiāzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu	Tujia and Miao	Tujia: Xiз’angv Xif Bif Ziv Kar hev Bef Kar zouf xengv zuvз Hmong: Xyaa Xyi Thws Ca Txhwj Mioj Txhwj Txim Tsim Tsawb	Jishou city
Jilin	Yanbian	延边朝鲜族自治州 Yánbiān Cháoxiǎnzú Zìzhìzhōu	Korean	Korean: 연변 조선족 자치주 (Yeonbyeon Joseonjok Jachiju)	Yanji (Yeongil) city
Qinghai	Haibei	海北藏族自治州 Hǎiběi Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: མཚོ་བྱང་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ (Mtsho-byang Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul)	Haiyan County
Qinghai	Hainan	海南藏族自治州 Hǎinán Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: མཚོ་ལྷོ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ (Mtsho-lho Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul)	Gonghe County
Qinghai	Huangnan	黄南藏族自治州 Huángnán Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: རྨ་ལྷོ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ (Rma-lho Bod-rigs rang skyong khul)	Tongren city
Qinghai	Golog	果洛藏族自治州 Guǒluò Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: མགོ་ལོག་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ (Mgo-log Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul)	Maqên County
Qinghai	Yushu	玉树藏族自治州 Yùshù Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: ཡུལ་ཤུལ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ (Yul-shul Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul)	Yushu city
Qinghai	Haixi	海西蒙古族藏族自治州 Hǎixī Měnggǔzú Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Mongolian & Tibetan	Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠶᠢᠰᠢ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠲᠥᠪᠡᠳ ᠦᠨᠳᠦᠰᠦᠲᠡᠨ ᠦ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠵᠧᠦ (Borotal a-yin mongγol ebereen öbertegen zasaqu ǰuu) Tibetan: མཚོ་ནུབ་སོག་རིགས་ཆ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ (Mtsho-nub Sog-rigs dang Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul)	Delingha (Delhi) city
Sichuan	Ngawa	阿坝藏族羌族自治州 Ābà Zàngzú Qiāngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan & Qiang	Tibetan: རྔ་བ་བོད་རིགས་ཆ་བ༹ང་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ (Rnga-ba Bod-rigs dang Chavang-rigs rang skyong khul) Qiangic: Ggabba Shbea Rrmea nyujugvez zhou	Barkam city
Sichuan	Garzê	甘孜藏族自治州 Gānzī Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: དཀར་མཛེས་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ (Dkar-mdzes Bod-rigs rang-skyong khul)	Kangding (Dartsedo) city
Sichuan	Liangshan	凉山彝族自治州 Liángshān Yízú Zìzhìzhōu	Yi	Yi: ꆃꎭꆈꌠꊨꏦꏱꅉꍏ (Niepsha Nuosu Zytjiejux dde Zho)	Xichang (Op Rro) city
Xinjiang	Kizilsu	克孜勒苏柯尔克孜自治州 Kèzīlèsū Kē'ěrkèzī Zìzhìzhōu	Kyrgyz	Kyrgyz: قىزىلسۇۇ قىرعىز اپتونوم وبلاسى‎ (Kızılsuu Kırgız avtonom oblastı)	Artux city
Xinjiang	Bortala	博尔塔拉蒙古自治州 Bó'ěrtǎlā Měnggǔ Zìzhìzhōu	Mongolian	Mongolian: ᠪᠣᠷᠣᠳᠠᠯ᠎ᠠ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠵᠧᠦ (Borotala mongγol ebereen zasaqu ǰuu)	Bole (Bortala) city
Xinjiang	Changji	昌吉回族自治州 Chāngjí Huízú Zìzhìzhōu	Hui	(The Hui speak Chinese) Xiao'erjing: چَانْ‌ݣِ خُوِزُو زِجِجِوْ‎	Changji city
Xinjiang	Bayingolin	巴音郭楞蒙古自治州 Bāyīnguōlèng Měnggǔ Zìzhìzhōu	Mongolian	Mongolian: ᠪᠠᠶᠠᠨᠭᠣᠣᠯ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠵᠧᠦ (Bayangol mongγol ebereen zasaqu ǰuu)	Korla city
Xinjiang	Ili (Altay) (Tacheng)	伊犁哈萨克自治州 Yīlí Hāsàkè Zìzhìzhōu (阿勒泰地区) (Ālètài Dìqū) (塔城地区) (Tǎchéng Dìqū)	Kazakh	Kazakh: ىله قازاق اۆتونومىيالى وبلىسى (İle Qazaq awtonomïyalıq oblısı) (Kazakh: ئالتاي ۋىلايىتى) (Altay aymağı) (Kazakh: تارباعاتاي ايماعى) (Tarbağatay aymağı)	Yining (Ghulja) city (Altay city) (Tacheng city)
Yunnan	Dehong	德宏傣族景颇族自治州 Déhóng Dǎizú Jǐngpōzú Zìzhìzhōu	Dai and Jingpo	Tai Nüa - ᥟᥪᥒᥱ ᥙᥪᥴ ᥓᥝᥲ ᥙᥩᥒ ᥛᥥᥝᥰ ᥖᥭᥰ ᥓᥤᥒ ᥚᥨᥲ ᥖᥬᥲ ᥑᥨᥒᥰ (Sakhkung Sam Jinghpo Amyu Madu Uphkang Mungdo) Zaiwa:Sikung Sam Zaizo Byumyu Yumsing Upkang Mau	Mangshi city
Yunnan	Nujiang	怒江傈僳族自治州 Nùjiāng Lìsùzú Zìzhìzhōu	Lisu	Lisu: ꓠꓳ-ꓟꓵ ꓡꓲ-ꓢꓴ ꓫꓵꓽ ꓚꓲꓸ ꓛꓬꓽ ꓗꓪꓼ ꓫꓵꓽ ꓝꓳꓴ (Nolmut lisu shit jilqait guatshit zhou)	Lushui city
Yunnan	Dêqên (Diqing)	迪庆藏族自治州 Díqìng Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: བདེ་ཆེན་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ (Bde-chen Bod-rigs rang-skyong khul)	Shangri-La city
Yunnan	Dali	大理白族自治州 Dàlǐ Báizú Zìzhìzhōu	Bai	Bai: Darl•lit Baif•cuf zirl•zirl•zox	Dali city
Yunnan	Chuxiong	楚雄彝族自治州 Chǔxióng Yízú Zìzhìzhōu	Yi	Yi: ꀒꇐꆈꌠꊨꏦꏱꅉꍏ (Olu Nuosu Zytjiejux dde Zho)	Chuxiong city
Yunnan	Honghe	红河哈尼族彝族自治州 Hónghé Hānízú Yízú Zìzhìzhōu	Hani and Yi	Hani: Haoqhoq Haqniqssaq Haqhholssaq Ziiqziifzel Yi: ꉼꉻꆈꌠꊨꏦꏱꅉꍏ (Hopho Nuosu Zytjiejux dde Zho)	Mengzi city
Yunnan	Wenshan	文山壮族苗族自治州 Wenshān Zhuàngzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu	Zhuang and Miao	Zhuang: Munzsanh Bouxcuengh Myauzcuz Swcicouh Hmong: Veej Sa Tsuaam Txhwj Mioj Txhwj Txim Tsim Tsawb	Wenshan city
Yunnan	Xishuangbanna (Sibsongbanna)	西双版纳傣族自治州 Xīshuāngbǎnnà Dǎizú Zìzhìzhōu	Dai	Tai Lü: ᦈᦹᧈ ᦈᦹᧈ ᦵᦋᦲᧁᧈ ᦘᦱ ᦉᦱ ᦺᦑ ᧑᧒ ᦗᧃ ᦓᦱ	Jinghong city

Ethnic composition of autonomous prefectures

Note: * - denotes as the second titular ethnic group

Autonomous prefecture	Year established	Province	Titular ethnic group			Other minorities			Han %		Total population
				% 2000	% 2010		% 2000	% 2010	2000	2010
Bayingolin Prefecture	1954	Xinjiang	Mongolian	3.40	3.40	Uyghur	31.83	31.83	59.29	59.29	1,323,028
Bortala Prefecture	1954	Xinjiang	Mongolian	5.64	5.66	Uyghur	12.53	13.32	67.19	64.96	482,615
Changji Prefecture	1954	Xinjiang	Hui	11.55	9.52	Kazakh	7.98	9.33	75.14	75.31	1,412,844
Chuxiong Prefecture	1958	Yunnan	Yi	26.31	26.70	Lisu	2.03	1.98	67.45	66.94	2,615,109
Dali Prefecture	1956	Yunnan	Bai	32.80	32.19	Yi	12.94	13.02	50.35	50.69	3,525,706
Dehong Prefecture	1953	Yunnan	Dai	30.14	28.88	Jingpo*	11.53	11.09	50.66	51.93	1,124,432
Dêqên (Diqing) Prefecture	1957	Yunnan	Tibetan	33.12	32.36	Lisu	27.78	26.72	16.39	18.34	357,528
Enshi Prefecture	1983	Hubei	Tujia	45.00	47.50	Miao*	5.45	5.01	47.24	45.32	3,976,081
Gannan Prefecture	1953	Gansu	Tibetan	51.44	54.64	Hui	6.43	6.25	41.75	38.70	723,521
Garzê Prefecture	1950	Sichuan	Tibetan	78.37	78.29	Yi	2.56	2.66	18.24	18.24	1,060,632
Golog Prefecture	1954	Qinghai	Tibetan	91.63	91.86	Hui	1.11	0.96	6.59	6.57	173,541
Haibei Prefecture	1953	Qinghai	Tibetan	24.15	24.36	Hui	30.58	31.52	36.63	35.88	283,230
Hainan Prefecture	1953	Qinghai	Tibetan	62.77	66.31	Hui	6.97	6.84	28.06	24.84	446,849
Haixi Prefecture	1954	Qinghai	Mongol	7.23	5.53	Tibetan*	12.16	10.93	64.95	66.01	390,743
Honghe Prefecture	1957	Yunnan	Hani	16.60	17.55	Yi*	23.57	23.19	44.31	42.85	4,408,699
Huangnan Prefecture	1953	Qinghai	Tibetan	66.32	68.55	Mongol	13.54	13.98	7.54	6.08	254,033
Ili Prefecture	1954	Xinjiang	Kazakh		21.53	Uyghur		26.88		35.22	2,814,980
Kizilsu Prefecture	1954	Xinjiang	Kyrgyz	28.32	27.32	Uyghur	63.98	64.68	6.41	6.78	539,849
Liangshan Prefecture	1952	Sichuan	Yi	44.43	49.13	Tibetan	1.49	1.39	51.97	47.55	4,789,421
Linxia Prefecture	1956	Gansu	Hui		31.59	Dongxiang		25.99		39.70	2,103,259
Ngawa Prefecture	1953	Sichuan	Tibetan	53.72	54.50	Qiang*	18.28	17.58	24.69	24.56	898,846
Nujiang Prefecture	1954	Yunnan	Lisu	47.13	48.21	Bai	26.97	26.04	13.13	12.35	520,765
Qiandongnan Prefecture	1956	Guizhou	Miao	41.48	41.57	Dong*	31.40	29.02	19.3	21.73	4,535,015
Qiannan Prefecture	1956	Guizhou	Buyei	32.46	31.22	Miao*	13.37	12.69	43.37	44.84	4,037,887
Qianxinan Prefecture	1982	Guizhou	Buyei	30.04	27.56	Miao*	7.51	7.08	57.53	60.62	3,398,147
Wenshan Prefecture	1958	Yunnan	Miao	12.94	13.68	Zhuang*	30.04	29.20	41.99	42.69	3,703,008
Xiangxi Prefecture	1957	Hunan	Tujia		42.73	Miao*		33.85		22.85	2,547,833
Xishuangbanna (Sibsongbanna) Prefecture	1953	Yunnan	Dai	29.89	27.89	Hani	18.73	19.01	29.11	30.03	942,844
Yanbian Prefecture	1952	Jilin	Korean	36.26	32.45	Manchu	2.58	2.52	60.70	64.55	2,190,763
Yushu Prefecture	1951	Qinghai	Tibetan		96.49	Hui		0.22		3.09	373,427

Former autonomous prefectures of China

• Hainan Li and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (1952–1988) in Guangdong, abolished because of the establishment of Hainan Province.
• Hedong Hui Autonomous Prefecture (1954–1955) in Gansu, later changed name as Wuzhong Hui Autonomous Prefecture (1955–1958), abolished because of the establishment of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
• Xihaigu Hui Autonomous Prefecture (1953–1955) in Gansu, later changed name as Guyuan Hui Autonomous Prefecture (1955–1958), abolished because of the establishment of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
• Guixi Zhuang Autonomous Prefecture (sub-provincial level, 1953–1955) in Guangxi Province, abolished because of the establishment of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
• Bayinhot Mongol Autonomous Prefecture (1954–1956) in Gansu, included today's Dengkou County and Alxa League. The autonomy abolished after it merged into Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Administrative prefecture level units with a population of 30% or more of ethnic minorities

Excluding prefecture level units of autonomous regions in 2000.

• Hebei: Chengde (Han - 55.32%, Manchu - 39.87%)
• Liaoning: Benxi (Han - 66.84%, Manchu - 30.22%), Dandong (Han - 64.11%, Manchu - 32.99%)
• Hunan: Zhangjiajie (Tujia - 68.40%, Han - 22.81%), Huaihua (Han - 61.33%, Dong - 17.42%, Miao - 15.63%)
• Guizhou: Anshun (Han - 61.6%, Buyei - 16.92%, Miao - 14.27%), Tongren (Tujia - 37.81%, Han - 31.76%, Miao - 14.87%, Dong - 11.41%)
• Yunnan: Yuxi (Han - 68,18%, Yi - 19,32%), Pu'er (Han - 40,92%, Hani - 16,98%, Yi - 16.58%, Lahu - 11.47%), Lijiang (Han - 42.71%, Nakhi 20.51%, Yi - 18.68%, Lisu - 9.62%), Lincang (Han - 61.22%, Dai - 15.77%, Lahu and Va - 9.76%)
• Qinghai: Haidong (Han - 56.33%, Hui - 20.38%, Tibetan - 9.2%, Tu - 8.06%)

See also

• List of prefecture-level divisions of China
• Tusi Native Chieftain System
• Autonomous regions of China

External links

• Regional Autonomy for Ethnic Minorities in China