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Autonomous region of China

This article is part of the series: Political divisions of China
Province level
Provinces
Autonomous regions
Municipalities
Special Administrative Regions
Prefecture level
Prefectures
Autonomous prefectures
Prefecture-level cities
(incl. Sub-provincial cities)
Leagues
County level
Districts
Counties
Autonomous counties
County-level cities
(incl. Sub-prefecture-level cities)
Banners
Autonomous banners
Township level
District public offices
Townships
Ethnic townships
Towns
Subdistricts
Sumu
Ethnic sumu

An autonomous region, used in the context of China, translates for zizhiqu (自治区 zìzhìqū), which are province-level divisions with a designated ethnic minority, and are guaranteed more rights under the constitution than provinces. For example, they have a chairman (where regular provinces have governors), who must be of the ethnic group as specified by the autonomous region (Tibetan, Uighur, etc)

Autonomous regions were established after communist takeover, following Soviet nationality policy. There are five in total.

Name	Chinese (S)	pinyin	Designated minority	Local name	Abbreviation	Capital	List of county-level divisions
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region	广西壮族自治区	Guǎngxī Zhuàngzú Zìzhìqū	Zhuang	Zhuang - Gvaŋзsiь Bouчcueŋь Sɯcigi	桂 guì	Nanning	List of county-level divisions
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region	内蒙古自治区	Nèiměnggǔ Zìzhìqū	Mongol	Mongolian - Öbür Mongghul-un Öbertegen Jasaqu Orun	内蒙古 nèiměnggǔ	Hohhot	List of county-level divisions
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region	宁夏回族自治区	Níngxià Huízú Zìzhìqū	Hui	(The Hui speak Chinese)	宁 níng	Yinchuan	List of county-level divisions
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region	新疆维吾尔族自治区	Xīnjiāng Wéiwú'ěrzú Zìzhìqū	Uighur	Uighur - ?injaŋ Uyġur Aptonom Rayoni	新 xīn	Urumqi	List of county-level divisions
Tibet Autonomous Region	西藏自治区	Xīzàng Zìzhìqū	Tibetan	Tibetan - བོད་རང་སྐྱོང་ལྗོངས / Bod.raṅ.skyoṅ.ljoṅs	藏 zàng	Lhasa	List of county-level divisions