Political Subdivision: Provinces

Provinces were later established as the highest level of local government in ancient China in a significant change in China's administrative system. They were first created in the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368) in response to a dynamic process of adjustment and improvement of the central and local power structures to meet the need to govern a unified multi-ethnic country.

Provinces served as a pivot of the central-local relationship, reliant on centralized administration with some degree of authority ceded to the local level. This helped reduce the possibility of local lords becoming too powerful politically, economically or culturally and tempted to build their own power bases insulated from outside interventions, and greatly strengthened control by the central government over the regions, which contributed to national unity and ethnic integration. The establishment of provinces defined an overall framework for China's local administration and administrative divisions during the Yuan Dynasty and beyond, and has had a great impact on later generations and even today.

行省制

行省制是中國古代一種行政制度，以省為最高一級的地方行政機(jī)構(gòu)，反映了中國行政制度發(fā)展史上的重大變化。行省制起源于元朝，是當(dāng)時(shí)中央與地方權(quán)力結(jié)構(gòu)不斷調(diào)整、完善以適應(yīng)統(tǒng)一多民族國家治理要求的產(chǎn)物。

行省制確立了行省作為中央與地方關(guān)系的樞紐，是以中央集權(quán)為主，輔以部分地方分權(quán)的新體制，進(jìn)一步削弱了地方政治、經(jīng)濟(jì)、文化的分離割據(jù)力量，加強(qiáng)了中央對地方的有效控制與管理，促進(jìn)了國家統(tǒng)一和民族融合。這一制度奠定了元朝及以后中國地方行政管理制度和行政區(qū)域劃分的整體結(jié)構(gòu)，對后世乃至當(dāng)代中國行政體制都產(chǎn)生了很大影響。