Villages of the People's Republic of China

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
Mongolian name
Mongolian script	ᠭᠠᠴᠠᠭ᠎ᠠ
Transcriptions SASM/GNC gaqaa

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 like in the West, 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]

Types of villages

Urban

• Residential community (simplified Chinese: 社区; traditional Chinese: 社區; pinyin: shèqū)
  • Residential committees (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

• Administrative village or Village (Chinese: 行政村 or 村; pinyin: xíngzhèngcūn or cūn)
• Gaqa (Chinese: 嘎查; pinyin: gāchá) only for Inner Mongolia.
• 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.

See also

• Organic Law of Village Committees

References

1. Ellis 2004.

Bibliography

• Ellis, E.C. (2004). DeFries, R. S.; Asner, G. P.; Houghton, R. A., eds. "Ecosystems and Land Use Change" Long-term ecological changes in the densely populated rural landscapes of China (PDF). Geophysical Monographs (Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union) 153: 303–320.
• 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

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

• 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