List of cities in China by population

Contributors to Wikimedia projects

Article Images

This list ranks cities in the People's Republic of China, including Hong Kong and Macau, by population. According to the administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China, there are three levels of cities, namely municipalities, prefecture-level cities (地级市), and county-level cities. There are over 160 cities in China with a population over one million.

Municipalities and prefecture-level cities are not each a "city" in the strictest sense of the term, but instead an administrative unit comprising, typically, both an urban core (a city in the strict sense) and surrounding rural or less-urbanized areas usually many times the size of the central, built-up core. Prefecture-level cities nearly always contain multiple counties, county-level cities, and other such sub-divisions. To distinguish a prefecture-level city from its actual urban area (city in the strict sense), the term "市区" (shìqū; "urban area") is used. However, even this term often encompasses large suburban regions often greater than 1,000 square miles (3,000 km²), sometimes only the urban core whereas the agglomeration overtake the city limits. Thus, the "urban core" would be roughly comparable to the US term "city limit", the "shìqū or urban area" would be roughly comparable to "metropolitan area", and the municipality is a political designation defining regions under control of a municipal government, having no comparable division.

The cities are listed by built up area adjusted to Local Government Authorities encompassed by built up area (ie Districts, Cities or Counties). Thus, these built up area can be made of several cities (ie : Guangzhou - Dongguan - Shenzhen, Shanghai - Suzhou, Shenyang - Fushun, Anshan - Liaoyang etc.) The population of the official Chinese urban area is listed beside. The larger municipality figure is the wider administrative area population, which includes suburban and rural areas as of the 2010 census.^[1]

The list contains all cities with the administrative designation "sub-provincial city" (副省级城市), and many are "Prefecture level cities" and "Provincial capitals" (省会). "Special Economic Zones" (经济特区城市), "National Central Cities" (国家中心城市) and some Council-Level cities are also listed.

City _{2010 census}	Chinese	Built up Area	Urban Area	Level	Administrative Area	Province-level division	Remarks
Guangzhou	广州	44,294,245	11,070,654	Sub-provincial city _{Provincial capital} _{National central city}	12,700,800	Guangdong	Incl. Shenzhen, Dongguan, Macao and part of Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai and Huizhou.
Shanghai	上海	27,965,403	22,265,426	Municipality _{National central city}	23,019,148	Shanghai	Incl. all Suzhou districts but Changshu and Zhangjiagang not yet in built-up area.
Beijing	北京	19,785,051	19,295,000	Municipality _{National central city}	19,612,368	Beijing	Incl. the cities of Zhuozhou and Sanhe and Dachang Hui Autonomous County in Hebei, but not Miyun, Pinggu and Yanqing suburban districts not yet linked to built-up area.^[2]
Shantou	汕头	11,630,447	1,346,708	Prefecture-level city _{Special Economic Zones}	5,391,028	Guangdong	Incl. most districts of Jieyang and Chaozhou
Shenzhen	深圳	Guangzhou	10,357,938	Sub-provincial city _{Special Economic Zones}	10,357,938	Guangdong
Tianjin	天津	10,290,987	11,090,314	Municipality _{National central city}	12,937,954	Tianjin	Baodi urban district not yet in built-up area.
Chengdu	成都	9,209,393	7,677,122	Sub-provincial city _{Provincial capital}	14,047,625	Sichuan	Incl. 8 out of 9 urban districts plus Pi and Shuangliu counties being urbanized.
Dongguan	东莞	Guangzhou	8,220,937	Prefecture-level city	8,220,937	Guangdong
Hangzhou	杭州	8,156,600	6,242,000	Sub-provincial city _{Provincial capital}	8,700,400	Zhejiang	Incl. Shaoxing and Yuecheng districts of Shaoxing city
Wuhan	武汉	7,297,141	9,780,644	Sub-provincial city _{Provincial capital}	9,785,392	Hubei	7 central urban districts plus Caidian and Dongxihu districts but not Water region.
Xi'an	西安	7,168,005	6,501,189	Sub-provincial city _{Provincial capital}	8,467,837	Shaanxi	Incl. Qindu and Weicheng urban districts of Xianyang.
Nanjing	南京	7,165,828	7,165,828	Sub-provincial city _{Provincial capital}	8,004,680	Jiangsu	Incl. 6 urban and 3 suburban districts.
Hong Kong	香港	7,055,071	7,055,071	_{Special administrative region} _{National central city}	7,055,071	Hong Kong	Not included in Guangzhou - Shenzhen built up area.
Chongqing	重庆	6,777,200	7,457,600	Municipality _{National central city}	28,846,170	Chongqing	Incl. 6 urban districts plus Banan and Yubei suburban districts. Beibei district not yet built-up.
Shenyang	沈阳	6,982,162	5,967,526	Sub-provincial city _{Provincial capital}	8,106,171	Liaoning	Incl. all Shenyang urban districts but Shenbei plus 4 Fushun urban districts.
Quanzhou	泉州	6,070,717	1,398,427	Prefecture-level city	8,128,530	Fujian
Wenzhou	温州	5,853,500	3,039,500	Prefecture-level city	9,122,100	Zhejiang	Incl. 3 urban districts plus Ruian and Yueqing cities being urbanized.
Qingdao	青岛	5,764,400	4,587,200	Sub-provincial city	8,715,100	Shandong	Incl. 6 urban districts plus Jimo city being urbanized.
Harbin	哈尔滨	5,282,083	4,517,549	Sub-provincial city _{Provincial capital}	10,635,971	Heilongjiang	Incl. 6 urban districts plus Hulan county being urbanized.
Xiamen	厦门	5,114,758	3,531,347	Sub-provincial city _{Special Economic Zones}	3,531,147	Fujian	Incl. all Xiamen city plus Longwen, Xiangcheng Zhangzhou urban districts and Longhai city being urbanized.
Zhengzhou	郑州	4,867,388	4,253,627	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	8,626,505	Henan	Incl. 6 urban districts plus Xingyang city.
Jinan	济南	4,335,900	4,335,900	Sub-provincial city _{Provincial capital}	6,813,800	Shandong
Nanchang	南昌	4,107,962	2,357,838	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	5,042,565	Jiangxi	Incl. Nanchang County being urbanized but not Wanli urban district, not yet in built-up area.
Suzhou	苏州	Shanghai	4,074,000	Prefecture-level city	10,465,994	Jiangsu
Changsha	长沙	4,073,645	3,093,980	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	7,044,118	Hunan	Incl. 5 urban districts plus Changsha County being urbanized.
Shijiazhuang	石家庄	3,833,606	2,700,100	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	10,163,788	Hebei	Incl. Luquan City, Zhengding and Luancheng Counties being urbanized.
Taiyuan	太原	4,062,173	3,426,522	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	4,201,591	Shanxi	Incl. Yuci and Qu urban districts in Jinzhong.
Dalian	大连	3,683,941	3,683,941	Sub-provincial city	6,690,432	Liaoning
Kunming	昆明	3,583,429	3,583,429	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	6,432,212	Yunnan	Incl. 4 urban districts and Chenggong suburban district.
Wuxi	无锡	3,542,319	3,542,319	Prefecture-level city	6,372,624	Jiangsu
Changchun	长春	3,530,115	3,530,115	Sub-provincial city _{Provincial capital}	7,677,089	Jilin
Ningbo	宁波	3,491,597	3,491,597	Sub-provincial city	7,605,700	Zhejiang
Zibo	淄博	3,484,800	2,980,800	Prefecture-level city	4,530,600	Shandong	Incl. 5 urban districts plus Huantai county being urbanized.
Hefei	合肥	3,352,076	3,352,076	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	5,702,466	Anhui
Changzhou	常州	3,290,548	3,290,548	Prefecture-level city	4,591,972	Jiangsu
Taizhou	台州	3,269,300	1,902,500	Prefecture-level city	5,968,800	Zhejiang	Incl. Wenling city now in built-up area.
Tangshan	唐山	3,187,171	3,187,171	Prefecture-level city	7,577,284	Hebei
Nantong	南通	3,180,924	2,273,326	Prefecture-level city	7,282,835	Jiangsu	Incl. Haimen city now in built-up area.
Nanning	南宁	3,177,450	3,437,171	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	6,661,600	Guangxi	Yongning urban district not yet in built-up area.
Guiyang	贵阳	3,037,159	3,037,159	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	4,324,561	Guizhou
Ürümqi	乌鲁木齐	2,988,715	3,029,372	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	3,110,280	Xinjiang	Dabancheng suburvban district not yet in built-up area.
Fuzhou	福州	2,921,763	2,921,763	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	7,115,370	Fujian
Xuzhou	徐州	2,623,066	3,053,078	Prefecture-level city	8,580,500	Jiangsu
Linyi	临沂	2,600,200	2,600,200	Prefecture-level city	10,039,400	Shandong
Lanzhou	兰州	2,492,325	2,492,325	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	3,616,163	Gansu
Yangzhou	扬州	2,399,079	2,399,079	Prefecture-level city	4,459,760	Jiangsu
Huizhou	惠州	Guangzhou	2,344,507	Prefecture-level city	4,597,002	Guangdong	2 urban districts part of Guangzhou-Shenzhen built-up area.
Anshan	鞍山	2,238,480	1,582,742	Prefecture-level city	3,645,884	Liaoning	Incl. 4 Liaoning urban districts now in Anshan-Liaoning built-up area.
Haikou	海口	2,046,189	2,046,189	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	2,046,189	Hainan
Baotou	包头	2,034,996	2,070,801	Prefecture-level city	2,650,364	Inner Mongolia	Shiguai urban district not yet urbanized.
Anyang	安阳	1,995,760	1,146,761	Prefecture-level city	5,172,834	Henan	Incl. Anyang County now in built-up area.
Hohhot	呼和浩特	1,980,774	1,980,774	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	2,866,615	Inner Mongolia
Jilin City	吉林市	1,975,803	1,975,803	Prefecture-level city	4,414,681	Jilin
Xiangtan	湘潭	1,875,300	959,303	Prefecture-level city	2,748,552	Hunan	Incl. Xiangtan County being urbanized. Built-up area of 2,930,673 in progress with 4 urban districts of Zhuzhou.
Yantai	烟台	1,870,600	1,870,600	Prefecture-level city	6,968,200	Shandong
Huainan	淮南	1,835,456	1,769,582	Prefecture-level city	2,334,000	Anhui	Maoji urban district not in built-up area.
Jiangmen	江门	Guangzhou	1,822,640	Prefecture-level city	4,448,871	Guangdong
Nanyang	南阳	1,811,732	1,811,732	Prefecture-level city	10,263,006	Henan
Baoding	保定	1,789,550	1,157,891	Prefecture-level city	11,194,379	Hebei	Incl. Qingyuan county now in built-up area.
Fuyang	阜阳	1,768,947	1,768,947	Prefecture-level city	7,599,918	Anhui
Tai'an	泰安	1,735,500	1,735,500	Prefecture-level city	5,494,200	Shandong
Lu'an	六安	1,644,344	1,778,583	Prefecture-level city	5,612,000	Anhui	Yeji urban district not yet urbanized.
Liuzhou	柳州	1,603,318	1,029,946	Prefecture-level city	3,758,700	Guangxi	Incl. Liujiang county within built up area.
Zhanjiang	湛江	1,555,966	1,555,966	Prefecture-level city	1,392,493	Guangdong
Weifang	潍坊	1,521,600	1,521,600	Prefecture-level city	9,086,200	Shandong
Yinchuan	银川	1,513,151	1,290,170	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	1,993,088	Ningxia	Incl. Helan county within built-up area.
Zhuhai	珠海	1,500,000	1,560,229	Prefecture-level city _{Special Economic Zones}	1,560,229	Guangdong	Incl. Macau and southern part of Zhongshan but not eastern part of Zhuhai prefecture not yet urbanized. Satellite views show that Zhuhai-Macau conurbation is being included into [Guangzhou]]-Shenzhen built-up area.
Luoyang	洛阳	1,489,092	1,558,163	Prefecture-level city	6,549,486	Henan	Jili urban district not yet in built-up area.
Huangshi	黄石	1,478,613	641,497	Prefecture-level city	2,429,318	Hubei	Incl. Daye city.
Cixi	慈溪	1,462,383	1,462,383	County-level city	Ningbo	Zhejiang
Changde	常德	1,458,536	1,458,536	Prefecture-level city	5,717,218	Hunan
Pizhou	邳州	1,458,036	1,458,036	County-level city	Xuzhou	Jiangsu
Zhangzhou	漳州	1,453,135	596,165	Prefecture-level city	4,809,983	Fujian
Datong	大同	1,447,550	1,570,035	Prefecture-level city	3,318,057	Shanxi
Suqian	宿迁	1,437,686	1,437,686	Prefecture-level city	4,715,553	Jiangsu
Daqing	大庆	1,415,268	1,649,825	Prefecture-level city	2,904,532	Heilongjiang	Datong urban district not yet in built-up area.
Bozhou	亳州	1,409,436	1,409,436	Prefecture-level city	4,851,000	Anhui	Built-up area probably smaller because of the huge city area (2,226 km²).
Handan	邯郸	1,403,439	941,427	Prefecture-level city	9,174,679	Hebei
Panjin	盘锦	1,392,493	666,205	Prefecture-level city	1,392,493	Liaoning	Incl. 2 urban districts plus Dawa and Panshan counties partly in built-up area.
Ma'anshan	马鞍山	1,366,302	741,531	Prefecture-level city	1,366,302	Anhui	Incl. Dangtu County largely being urbanized.
Fushun	抚顺	Shenyang	1,356,987	Prefecture-level city	2,138,090	Liaoning
Mianyang	绵阳	1,355,331	1,355,331	Prefecture-level city	4,613,862	Sichuan
Yingkou	营口	1,351,519	738,128	Prefecture-level city	2,428,534	Liaoning	Incl. Dashiqiao city now in built-up area.
Yichang	宜昌	1,350,150	1,411,380	Prefecture-level city	4,059,686	Hubei	Xiaoting urban district not yet in built-up area.
Heze	菏泽	1,346,700	1,346,700	Prefecture-level city	8,287,800	Shandong
Chifeng	赤峰	1,333,526	1,333,526	Prefecture-level city	4,341,245	Inner Mongolia	Built-up area probably smaller because of the huge city area (7,012 km²).
Guilin	桂林	1,326,470	975,638	Prefecture-level city	4,748,000	Guangxi	Incl. Lingchuang County being urbanized.
Xiangyang	襄阳	1,294,732	2,199,689	Prefecture-level city	5,500,307	Hubei	Xiangzhou urban distrcit not yet in built-up area.
Rugao	如皋	1,267,066	1,267,066	County-level city	Nantong	Jiangsu
Neijiang	内江	1,251,095	1,251,095	Prefecture-level city	3,702,847	Sichuan
Maoming	茂名	1,217,715	1,217,715	Prefecture-level city	5,817,753	Guangdong
Zhenjiang	镇江	1,200,400	1,200,400	Prefecture-level city	3,113,384	Jiangsu
Xining	西宁	1,198,304	1,198,304	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	2,208,708	Qinghai
Qujing	曲靖	1,171,805	740,925	Prefecture-level city	5,855,055	Yunnan	Incl. Zhanyi county in built-up area.
Xingtai	邢台	1,155,199	688,876	Prefecture-level city	7,104,114	Hebei	Incl. Xingtai county now in built-up area.
Jingzhou	荆州	1,154,086	1,154,086	Prefecture-level city	5,691,707	Hubei
Jining	济宁	1,115,300	1,115,300	Prefecture-level city	8,081,900	Shandong
Guigang	贵港	1,086,327	1,493,874	Prefecture-level city	4,118,808	Guangxi	Incl. Gangbei and Gangnan urban districts only.
Jinhua	金华	1,077,300	1,077,300	Prefecture-level city	5,361,600	Zhejiang
Hengyang	衡阳	1,075,516	1,135,166	Prefecture-level city	7,141,462	Hunan	Nanyue urban district not yet in built-up area.
Zhuzhou	株洲	1,055,373	1,055,373	Prefecture-level city	3,855,609	Hunan	Built up area of 2,930,673 in progress with 3 urban districts of Xiangtan.
Lianyungang	连云港	1,049,831	1,049,831	Prefecture-level city	4,393,914	Jiangsu
Ezhou	鄂州	1,035,975	1,048,672	Prefecture-level city	1,048,672	Hubei	Incl. only Echeng urban district plus Huangzhou district of Huanggang Prefecture.
Pingdingshan	平顶山	1,033,975	1,033,975	Prefecture-level city	4,904,367	Henan
Qinhuangdao	秦皇岛	1,029,670	1,029,670	Prefecture-level city	2,987,605	Hebei
Linhai	临海	1,028,800	1,028,800	County-level city	Taizhou	Zhejiang	Built-up area < 1,000,000 inhabitants as the city is 2331 km².
Wuwei	武威	1,010,295	1,010,295	Prefecture-level city	1,815,054	Gansu	Built-up area < 1,000,000 inhabitants as the Liangzhou urban district is 5081 km².
Hezhou	贺州	1,005,500	1,005,500	Prefecture-level city	2,893,500	Guangxi	Built-up area < 1,000,000 inhabitants as the Babu urban district is 5334 km²
Zaoyang	枣阳	1,004,741	1,004,741	County-level city	Xianyang	Hubei	Built-up area < 1,000,000 inhabitants as the city is 3277 km².
Xiangcheng	项城	1,003,626	1,003,626	Prefecture-level city	4,904,367	Henan	Dans Zhoukou Prefecture
Dongying	东营	999,000	756,700	Prefecture-level city	2,035,300	Shandong	Incl. Kenli county partly within built-up area.
Yueyang	岳阳	991,465	1,232,133	Prefecture-level city	5,477,911	Hunan	Junshan urban districts not yet in built-up area.
Laiwu	莱芜	989,500	1,298,500	Prefecture-level city	1,298,500	Shandong	Gangcheng urban district not yet in built-up area.
Qiqihar	齐齐哈尔	979,517	1,481,637	Prefecture-level city	5,611,000	Heilongjiang	Incl. Longsha, Jianhua and Tiefeng urban districts only.
Benxi	本溪	972,932	972,932	Prefecture-level city	1,709,538	Liaoning
Bengbu	蚌埠	972,784	972,784	Prefecture-level city	3,164,467	Anhui
Qidong	启东	972,525	972,525	County-level city	Nantong	Jiangsu
Mudanjiang	牡丹江	965,154	965,154	Prefecture-level city	2,798,723	Heilongjiang
Danyang	丹阳市	960,418	960,418	County-level city	Zhenjiang	Jiangsu
Wuchuan	吴川	947,499	947,499	County-level city	Zhanjiang	Guangdong
Feicheng	肥城	946,600	946,600	County-level city	Tai'an	Shandong
Xianyang	咸阳	Xi'an	945,420	Prefecture-level city	5,096,006	Shaanxi
Linfen	临汾	944,050	944,050	Prefecture-level city	4,316,612	Shanxi
Xinyi	新沂	920,610	920,610	County-level city	Xuzhou	Jiangsu
Weihai	威海	908,200	908,982	Prefecture-level city	2,804,800	Shandong
Haimen	海门	Nantong	907,598	County-level city	Nantong	Jiangsu	Incl. in Nantong built-up area in 2012.
Xinxiang	新乡	902,731	1,047,020	Prefecture-level city	5,707,801	Henan	Fengquan urban district not yet linked to built-up area.
Zaozhuang	枣庄	899,700	2,125,136	Prefecture-level city	3,729,300	Shandong	Xuecheng, Shanting and Tai'erzhuang urban districts not in built-up area.
Kaifeng	开封	896,057	896,057	Prefecture-level city	4,676,159	Henan
Jiaozuo	焦作	888,875	888,875	Prefecture-level city	3,539,860	Henan
Hengyang	衡阳	886,424	936,789	Prefecture-level city	7,141,462	Hunan
Shaoxing	绍兴	Hangzhou	883,800	Prefecture-level city	4,912,200	Zhejiang	Yuecheng urban district and Shaoxing County in Hangzhou built-up area.
Jiamusi	佳木斯	881,711	881,711	Prefecture-level city	2,552,097	Heilongjiang
Suihua	绥化	877,682	877,682	Prefecture-level city	5,416,339	Heilongjiang
Jinzhou	锦州	875,955	875,955	Prefecture-level city	3,126,463	Liaoning
Langfang	廊坊	868,066	868,066	Prefecture-level city	4,358,839	Hebei	Sanhe City and Dachang Hui Autonomous County included in Beijing built-up area.
Rizhao	日照	865,032	1,143,078	Prefecture-level city	2,801,100	Shandong	Lanshan urban district not in built-up area.
Wuhu	芜湖	864,932	1,009,824	Prefecture-level city	2,263,123	Anhui
Zhoushan	舟山	843,000	843,000	Prefecture-level city	1,121,300	Zhejiang
Yibin	宜宾	836,383	836,383	Prefecture-level city	4,472,001	Sichuan
Kashgar	喀什	819,095	396,795	County-level city _{Special Economic Zones}	3,979,321	Xinjiang	Incl. Shule County being urbanized.
Dandong	丹东	798,364	798,364	Prefecture-level city	2,444,697	Liaoning
Anqing	安庆	780,514	780,514	Prefecture-level city	5,311,000	Anhui
Huludao	葫芦岛	777,682	777,682	Prefecture-level city	2,623,541	Liaoning
Shaoyang	邵阳	753,194	753,194	Prefecture-level city	7,071,741	Hunan
Binzhou	滨州	709,700	709,700	Prefecture-level city	3,748,500	Shandong
Fuxin	阜新	686,848	686,848	Prefecture-level city	1,819,339	Liaoning
Dezhou	德州	679,600	679,600	Prefecture-level city	5,568,200	Shandong
Yangjiang	阳江	676,858	676,858	Prefecture-level city	2,421,812	Guangdong
Tieling	铁岭	666,755	328,555	Prefecture-level city	2,717,732	Liaoning	Incl. Tieling County now in built-up area.
Liaoyang	辽阳	Anshan	655,738	Prefecture-level city	1,859,768	Liaoning
Puyang	濮阳	655,631	655,631	Prefecture-level city	3,598,494	Henan
Yulin	玉林	637,617	637,617	Prefecture-level city	3,351,437	Guangxi	Incl. largely rural areas.
Jingjiang	靖江	617,277	617,277	County-level city	4,618,558	Jiangsu	Included in Taizhou.
Jiujiang	九江	592,381	592,381	Prefecture-level city	4,728,764	Jiangxi
Taizhou	泰州	586,392	1,417,567	Prefecture-level city	4,618,558	Jiangsu	Jiangyan suburban district not yet in built-up area.
Chuzhou	滁州	562,321	562,321	Prefecture-level city	3,937,868	Anhui
Macau	澳门	Zhuhai	552,503	_{Special administrative region}	541,200	Macau
Cangzhou	沧州	536,793	536,793	Prefecture-level city	7,134,053	Hebei
Aksu	阿克苏	535,657	535,657	County-level city	2,370,887	Xinjiang	Incl. largely rural areas.
Beihai	北海	525,385	668,085	Prefecture-level city	1,539,300	Guangxi	Incl. Haicheng and Yinhai urban districts.
Zhoukou	周口	505,139	505,139	Prefecture-level city	8,953,172	Henan
Hegang	鹤岗	489,232	489,232	Prefecture-level city	1,058,665	Heilongjiang	Dongshan district not yet in built-up area.
Nanping	南平	467,875	467,875	Prefecture-level city	2,645,549	Fujian
Chaozhou	潮州	Shantou	452,472	Prefecture-level city	2,669,844	Guangdong
Lishui	丽水	451,400	451,400	Prefecture-level city	2,117,000	Zhejiang
Lhasa	拉萨	279,074	279,074	Prefecture-level city _{Provincial capital}	559,423	Tibet
Karamay	克拉玛依	261,445	261,445	Prefecture-level city	391,008	Xinjiang
Altay	阿勒泰	190,064	190,064	County-level city	603,280	Xinjiang
Lijiang	丽江	155,540	155,540	Prefecture-level city	1,244,769	Yunnan

Gallery

References

External links

National Bureau of Statistics of China
Largest Cities in China (unofficial)