The 22 provinces of China explained

All right. I believe my eye has healed.

It's not red anymore. I can mostly open

it. I'm trying. Yeah, I think I'm good.

Okay. When Marco Polo first came to

China, he was astounded and he is quoted

for saying, "I did not believe them when

they told me of the city of Kamaluk or

Beijing. Nor can any pen describe it,

nor any tongue tell it, nor can it be

imagined except by those who have seen

it." China is obviously one of the

world's most renowned countries, and it

has made some of the biggest impacts in

human history. There is no simple way to

quickly summarize this place, but I'm

going to try to at least scratch the

surface. Let's have a Geogra talk.

Hey everybody, I'm your host Barbs and

oh my gosh golly g goodness, I'm

drinking coffee from this mug. It's such

a good mug. And you can get this and

other items at the Geography Now shop at

geographynow.com. Get the stuff, do

whatever you want with it. I don't care.

And as I always say, it is not selling

out if it's your brand. So, as you guys

know, I do administrative division

videos. The last one we did was the

regions of Italy. And, you know, I like

to switch up the continents. And this is

one of the most heavily requested

administrative division videos that I

get. But, I want I was saving it because

I wanted to make it at the right time.

And I figured this was probably the

right time to make it because about two

times a year, I take my mom out on a

mother-son trip. We usually go somewhere

international. And this time, I asked my

mom where she would like to go and it

kind of went something like this. Where

do you want to go?

>> China. So when my mom said China, I

asked my subscribers, "What do you

recommend we check out?" You guys

suggested we go to Sichuan and Yunan. So

that's where we're going. And with that

in mind, it kind of inspired me to make

this video covering the 22 provinces of

China. Now, keep in mind, there's more

to China than just 22 provinces. Like

many other nations, China subdivides

itself in all these different types of

layers of administrative units. And

China has four first level subdivisions.

You have the 22 provinces of China. Then

you have five autonomous regions. Then

you have the four municipalities. And

then they have two special

administrative regions. These are Hong

Kong and Macau. It it's it's

complicated. And then of course you get

into all the other controversial stuff

like the disputed areas and you know the

whole dispute with Taiwan thing. We're

not going to get into that. Okay. In

this video I'm just going to cover the

22 provinces. Why? Because these videos

take a long time to research and write

and edit and then upload and it's like

it takes too long. I don't have the

mental fortitude to do 31 or 32

depending on how you look at it

administrative units. I'm just going to

have to cut it down to 22. Okay. Maybe

in a future video I'll do the rest but

right now just the 22 provinces. Okay,

cool. So in that case, let's break it

down and jump into the first one. First

one, ane capital H. By the way, I'm

going to try my best with the Chinese

tonal intonations. I'm probably going to

all of them up. I'm sorry if I do.

I don't speak Chinese, but I'm trying my

best. Okay. Anyway, known as the yellow

mountain province. Basically, this place

is famous for the Hi culture as it is in

the name Anhei. Hui people historically

were known as like the merchants of

China. They have a huge heavy merchant

culture. Also known for their Hi

architecture, which I believe has white

walls and black tiles, stuff like that.

Some top sites include places like Hong

Kun and Shidi ancient villages, Tuni old

street, Mount Juwa. By the way, a lot of

the scenes in Crouching Tiger Hidden

Dragon were filmed here. Oh my gosh,

just beautiful like h traditional

scenery and the bamboos and all the

dude. My favorite scene in the whole

movie was the bamboo fighting scene

where they climb. Everybody loves that

scene. And Hay cuisine is considered one

of the eight Chinese cuisines. Food here

is very respected. Uh famous for their

hang mang tea and hairy tofu. Basically,

this place really played a huge role in

shaping the commercial industry of

China. Next one, Fuian, capital Fujo.

This is known as the land of overseas

Chinese because a lot of people here

kind of immigrate to other countries

mostly the Hokian and Min peoples. They

have their own language/dialects and a

lot of them abroad also bring Hokian

culture. Like you can find a lot of them

in like Southeast Asia. I know there's a

lot in like the Philippines. One thing

you probably may know about this place

are the Tulo houses. Those big circular

clay earthen buildings. They're actually

a UNESCO site and they they feature

those buildings in like a lot of Chinese

movies. They were built that way to like

resist bandits. Some of them can even

hold like over 300 people and people

still live in them. In addition, they

also have the Gulang Islands, Wui

Mountain, Chuano Historic Port, and

oddly enough, you can see the Kinman

Islands just off their coast, which are

actually administered by Taiwan. That's

a whole other story. And uh Fujian

cuisine is very notable. They have a

Buddha jumps over the wall, oyster

omelets, wooi rock tea. It's like if you

want to see Hoken/Min culture, you come

here. Next one, Gansu, capital Lo. This

was the gateway to the Silk Roads Hexi

Corridor or the most important trade

route in northwestern China. This is

where like you could branch off and go

in multiple directions. It was where the

caravan of camels would go across the

Silk Road further to the west. This is a

dry, arid province, but there's a lot of

crazy hidden secrets within these

deserts, such as the Mogal caves. It's a

UNESCO site, the Jaugan Pass, which is

basically the end of the Great Wall.

Changa Danchia landforms. It looks

freaking amazing. Like multiple colored

rocks. It's also the place where China

had their first space launch site. They

eat a lot of lamb and mutton here. They

have handpulled noodles. Basically, this

was the crossroads where China met with

Central Asia and it was a place of lots

of cultural exchange between the two

regions. Next one, Guangong, capital

Guango. This is the big powerhouse of

China. It is the most populous with over

130 million, pretty much the entire

population of Mexico in this one little

province. Actually, it's not little,

it's huge, but yeah, this is the

heartland of the Cantonese people. And

it's also the heartland of modern trade

and manufacturing. Like you know those

little tags on your products that say

made in China? Nine times out of 10 it's

probably from this province. Like this

one province alone produces like 10% of

the world's products. And of course that

being said obviously Cantonese culture

is the dominant prevailing culture here.

Cantonese is a completely unintelligible

language from Mandarin but it's the

prevailing language in this area and

also in Hong Kong and Macau. Guangjo

Canton Tower, the Chen Clan Academy,

Shenzhen. Oh, and it's also home of man.

Did you Did you watch those Ipman

movies? They're pretty good. And

Sunyatsen. Cantonese food is

worldrenowned. You've probably heard of

a lot of their dishes like dim sum,

Cantonese goose or duck, chasu barbecue

pork. Cantonese heartland, Cantonese

culture, huge manufacturing and

industrial and logistics and shipping

part of China. There you go. Next one.

Quay Cho, capital Quay Yang. This one's

like Yunan's little brother. So, China

has 56 recognized minority peoples

within the country. The vast majority of

them are Hanchinese. They make up like

90% of the population. And within the

remaining 10%, they have all the other

55 other ethnic groups. And Guo is the

second most ethnically diverse province

in China. They have 17 recognized

minority groups. The largest ones being

the Meow and the Dong peoples. They say

they have more ethnic festivals here

than there are days of the year. or like

some like even some days they have like

multiple festivals going on at the same

time. It's crazy. Some of them include

things like the Meow New Year's

Festival, the Sisters Meal Festival, the

Luchen Dance Festival. There's so many

festivals here. Some top sites include

the the Huang Guu Waterfall, Kylie and

Xi Jang Ethnic Villages, and in

Chinglong, they have really cool carsted

scenery with like rock formations. And

uh they make Mai, which is probably one

of China's most famous liquors. They use

it at like state banquetss. And yeah,

it's just it's just a very cool diverse

province where you can see a lot of

tradition from these peoples. Next one,

Hainan, capital Hiko. This is China's

Hawaii. It's the island, the island

province, and it's the only truly

tropical region of China with an actual

tropical coral reef. The island also has

a volcanic crater. It's the least

populous out of all the provinces, only

about 10 only 10 million people. Famous

for its amazing beaches, resorts,

rainforests. The whole island is not

only a free trade zone, but they also

have China's only free trade port. So,

there's a lot of business in this area

going on. Culturally, it's kind of like

a mix between Han and Lee. The Lee

people. Uh they're known for making

really good dragon quilts. And uh Hainan

cuisine is also very well renowned.

They're known for Hainan chicken rice,

which I believe also plays into

Singapore's chicken rice. I'm not sure.

Correct me if I'm wrong. And they use a

lot of tropical fruits and coconuts in

their cuisine as well. I mean, it grows

on the island. Yeah, it's just a it's

it's it's China's tropical free trade

zone port Hawaii. Next one, H capital

Shiuang. Gosh, that's a hard one to say.

Shiauang.

So, this is basically like the fortress

province that completely surrounds and

guards the capital Beijing as well as

Tanjin, two of some of the most

important cities in all of China. So,

like historically, if you wanted to go

to the capital promised land, you would

have to pass through this province. And

it's also kind of like where Imperial

Royals would go to like chill and relax.

Like they had the what's it called?

Changdu Mountain Resort where theQing

Imperial Summer Palace was. And it's

actually twice the size of Beijing's

forbidden city. Uh many important parts

of the Great Wall are in this province.

People say that the people in this

province carry a brick in their pockets

as a nod to the huge construction and

steel industries. Many important

military figures came from this

province. Uh, some top foods you find

here are gianing, which are like savory

crepes, a lot of uh, wheat-based staples

as opposed to rice. They like wheat up.

The more north you go, the more

wheat-based the food gets, whereas in

the south, it's more rice. So, that's

kind of how China works. Uh, back in

1976, there was the Tangan earthquake.

One of the deadliest modern disasters.

And yeah, ba basically this whole

province was like a very important

military strategic frontier area

because, you know, it surrounded the

capital. Next one. Long capital Harbin.

It's actually three syllables. Harbin.

It looks like it's two. Harbin, but it's

Anyway, this is China's northernmost

province, the cold one. It's like the

ice kingdom. They even have like a huge

ice festival in the winter time. This is

the province that my grandma would tell

me about, my Korean grandma. So, back in

the early 20th century, this whole area

along with other parts of China used to

be occupied and colonized by the

Japanese. And my grandma was transferred

from Korea to go to high school in

Harbin. She told me all about this

place. There used to be a ton of

Russians that used to live in Harbin.

And then after World War II, most of

them were deported back to the Soviet

Union. But like you still see the hints

and evidence of the former Soviet

Russian influence in this city. Like you

see St. Sophia's Cathedral. You see like

a lot of like Russian pastry bakery

shops here. And it's just crazy. Like my

grandma told me about this place. It's

I'm curious about it. I want one day I

want to go there. I know I'm going to

Sichuan and Yunan, but I want to see

this place. I'm curious. The culture out

here is called Dongbe. It's like the

northern northeastern culture of China.

Lot of hearty cuisine out here. They

love their sausage and dumplings and

stews. It's the cold, icy kingdom of

China. Next one, Hunan, capital Jung.

This is the ancient cradle of Chinese

civilization. All three of the first

Chinese dynasties all started here. the

Shia Shang and Joe. Some of the oldest

sites in all of China are found here,

such as the site of the Oracle Bones,

which has some of the oldest Chinese

writing. We have the uh Lua Yang Gro

with over a 100,000 Buddha statues. And

uh also, it's the home of Shaolin Kung

Fu with the most famous Shaolin temples.

Basically, it's the epicenter and core

of Chinese history. Like, you want to

see where everything begins, you come

here. Next one, Hoope, capital Wuhan.

You know about Wuhan. I'm not going to

get into it. Yeah, the viral institute,

blah, blah, blah. But aside from that,

Hoope's nickname is the land of a

thousand lakes cuz if you look at the

area, there's a lot of lakes and they're

a major inland river trading hub. They

are on the Yangze River. Uh they're

famous for Yellow Crane Tower, which is

one of the three great towers of the

South. It was written about by poets in

the Tong Dynasty. Uh the famous three

gorges dam is here. the world's largest

dam and power station. Lots of towist

sites in the Wuong Mountains, Jingcho

ancient city looks awesome. And uh many

modern scientists and writers come from

this province. Wuhan was also a hotbed

of the 1911 revolution uprisings which

pretty much led to the end of imperial

rule in China. So that's another thing

this place is famous for. Just like in

general, it's there's a lot of river

culture and education culture out here.

Next one, Hunan, capital Changa. So, if

Hube was the land of a thousand lakes,

this place is like the land of a

thousand rivers. Cuz uh this is where

Donging Lake is. And from there, it's

spiderw webs into all the freaking

rivers that go everywhere else. A major

river transport hub. This place famous

for the uh what's it called? Jang eroded

carsted limestone area. It's the thing

that basically inspired the Hallelujah

Mountains in the movie Avatar. and uh

Uyang Tower which is another one of the

three famous towers of the south. Mao

Dong was from this province and uh this

place is famous for the uh Xiang culture

which has a robust music and opera

traditions. Birthplace to a lot of

revolutionaries and a lot of uh river

culture out here as well. Next one,

Tangu, capital Ning. This is the wealthy

eastern province. A lot of business and

trade happens here. It basically borders

Shanghai and if you know Shanghai that

place is busy. Nanjing was actually the

capital of various dynastic powers like

the west and eastern gin and southern

dynasties. Nanjing was a very important

place. It it's also the home of the

mausoleum of Sunyatsen. There's also a

lot of Ming dynasty tombs here. The

Sucho classical gardens are a UNESCO

site. They also have Yangcho historical

canal city. But uh yeah, they have the

uh Jang Nan culture, famous for their uh

silk and porcelain crafts. Jangdan

people are also very famous for their

gardens, hence the UNESCO site. They

love gardening. Uh there's also Jang Su

cuisine, famous for their uh fried rice

and uh Yangqeng Lake Harry crab. It's

it's an important political and cultural

center to China. Next one, Chiang Xi,

capital N. This is basically the the

ceramic capital of China. They're very

famous for their ceramics and pottery

out here. They make it so well that

sometimes they call it white jade. Uh

they also have the Tanguan Pavilion

which is the final of the three famous

southern towers written in Tong Dynasty

times in poetry. They also have the uh

scenic mountain areas of Luchan. It's a

UNESCO cultural landscape. Aside from

pottery here, there's also a very famous

opera style Djangi opera. And in the

rural areas, they have, you know, clans

that they divide themselves up to, and

they have these really cool ancestral

shrines with clan trees that go back 700

years. Yeah, they take it very

seriously. They love their brazed pork

and pickled vegetables. But if I could

just summarize, their porcelain industry

was so famous that it heavily influenced

China's craft export sector for like

centuries. Porcelain. Next one. Chilin,

capital Chong Chuan. This is like

Hongong Chiang's little sister that

borders North Korea. They share the most

sacred, revered, most culturally

significant mountain in all of Korean

culture, Pectusan. But here in Chinese,

they call it, what is it? Changai

Mountain. It's like a huge dormant

volcano with a crater. And in the

crater, there's a huge lake. They call

it Heaven's Lake. And apparently, North

Koreans say that their first leader,

Kimsung, was born here under a rainbow.

I'll let you do whatever you want with

that information. But anyway, so you can

probably tell that there's a lot of

Korean Chinese influence in this area.

There's a lot of people here who

actually speak Korean and that kind of

plays into the identity of this area.

But there's also a lot of dong bay or

like northern plains Chinese culture

here as well. It's super north, so they

have a lot of winter festivals here.

They're also very famous for being heavy

in the automotive industry. The capital

is actually China's car making base.

It's like Hong Chong's little sister who

has a little bit more of a Korean

influence, I guess you could say. Next

one, Leaing, capital Shenyang. So, this

is the industrial heartland of

northeastern China, the rust belt. But

it's also home to the Manchu people or

the Manurian people. You've probably

heard that word, Manuria. Probably from

the movie The Manurion Candidate, which

had nothing to do with Manuria. I mean,

the original one in the '60s kind of

did, but that's besides the point.

Anyway, what is the significance of the

Manurion people? Well, way back Yeha,

they kind of pretty much took over

China. They kind of overthrew the Ming

dynasty when there was a lot of

infighting and they created theQing

dynasty, the last dynasty of China. And

they actually don't even speak Mandarin.

They spoke their own Manurian language,

Manchu, which is actually a Tungustic

language. It's like more related to the

Siberian, you know, Turk languages. But,

you know, when you take over an entire

imperial domain where 90% of the people

speak one language, like you're going to

have to learn that language. So, they

kind of just like slowly adopted the

Mandarin language and became Chinese,

but they took over anyway. And that's

why you see a lot of like imperial

buildings out in this area. You have

things like the Shenyang Imperial Palace

or Mukten Palace. Benshi has some cool

geological parks. Thailand, the coastal

city, has some really cool beaches. But

yeah, basically uh this is the area

known for having the Manchu people that

eventually crossed over the Great Wall

and took over for theQing dynasty. Next

one, Chingghai, capital Shining. This is

the furthest west province until you

reach the autonomous regions that go

further west. Basically, this is kind of

like where the Hanchinese culture world

kind of starts meshing and blending in

with the Tibetan plateau people's world.

You start to kind of see a lot more like

pastoralists and semi-nomadic peoples

that herd livestock. You start to see a

lot of wild yaks and antelopes in this

area. It's like dry, but it's also high

altitude, so it's cold. Famous for Lake

Chingghai, the largest lake in all of

China. And uh this place is actually

growing a lot in tourism in China. There

are some places in this area that are

very sparsely populated, but like the

scenery is crazy and it looks amazing.

They even have monasteries where they

put both Buddha and Confucious together.

It's like a weird syncric like

confucutionist Buddhist thing that they

like kind of put together. Yeah, it

starts to get more Tibetan out in these

areas. So that's I guess how I would

summarize it. Next one, Shani. Capital X

Shiion. You've probably heard of Shiion.

You know, the terracotta soldiers, the

clay soldiers that are all lined up in a

row and blah blah blah all that stuff.

That's this place. Yes, Shiani is one of

the four main ancient capitals of China.

It was a big deal and it still is a big

deal. Basically, Shiion was considered

the starting point of the Silk Road. So,

historically, a lot of stuff came in

here and came out of here and was

connected to everything continentally in

Asia pretty much. The seat of multiple

ancient dynasties. What was it? The Joe,

theQin, Tahan, the Tang, and uh the

Terracotta Army discovery like wasn't

even known until like recently. Like

they they dug it up and they discovered

it. It was crazy. It helped like the

understanding of theQin dynasty when

they dug it up and discovered it. It was

crazy. So many mysteries hidden

throughout the lands. But yeah, other

than that, um they are also famous for

their aerospace industry. A lot of uh

you know, aircrafts are built here.

Byang noodles and roamo style

sandwiches. Never even heard of that.

Okay. And mirror cakes. Yeah, there's a

there's a lot of cuisine legacy here as

well. They also have the ancient city

walls, the big wild goose pagod, Mount

Hua. I mean, if you're not going to go

to Beijing, you may as well go to Xian

cuz it's like equally as fascinating of

a city. Next one. Shanong, capital Chi

Nan. This is basically the birthplace of

Confucious, the city of what's it

called? Chufu. In that city, Chufu,

you're going to see so many Confucious

temples and monasteries and cemeteries

and even the mansion. They're all UNESCO

heritage sites. Like this is the

Confucious province, but uh it also has

a strong maritime and agricultural

backbone. They are coastal. Singo beer,

which was actually, you know, founded by

German brewers in 1903. Actually it it

comes from here. Okay. Yeah. But yeah,

just like to summarize, Confucianism

plays a huge major role in the culture

of this area which also permeated the

rest of China and it was very important.

Next one, Shansi Capital Taan. So this

was kind of like the historical finance

hub of China back in the day. Like the

first Chinese banks actually came from

here or what is it called? Piao. And

they were the first uh people to have

used a letter of credit system which was

centuries before it was even thought up

of in western countries. So like yeah

they had like ancient Chinese credit

card not really card but like letters.

But there are also lots of cool ancient

sites like the Pingyao ancient walled

city. It's a UNESCO site. There's also

the Yungang Gro Mount Wu Thai which is

like a Buddhist sacred mountain. They

say the locals know how to make 108

different types of noodles here.

Shangshi vinegar is highly prized. It's

considered like some of the best vinegar

in all of China and usually people give

it to each other as gifts. But yeah,

it's just kind of known as like the

historical merkantile and finance hub of

China. Like the people here, they

handled money. Next one, Sichuan

capital, Chongu. You probably know this

one colloially as Sichuan. I'm going to

this one. I am so super excited. I can't

wait. And it's also the panda capital.

They even have that huge panda breeding

center. They have the world's largest

panda population. So, if you want to see

pandas, you come here. Otherwise, uh I

mean like landscape wise, they have a

lot going on as well. Oh my goodness.

They have like the Diako Valley Scenic

Park. They have that Lean Giant Buddha,

you know, the one that's like carved in

the entire mountain side of a small

mountain. One of the coolest traditions

here is the Sichuan Opera. You've

probably seen it. It's like they quickly

change the masks in like milliseconds.

It's like a magic trick. They just like

quickly change the masks and the

costumes. It's also like the spice

capital. The spiciest foods come from

this area. You got like mapo tofu, hot

pot, pungpow chicken, dandan noodles.

They say that Sichuan people don't fear

spicy food. They fear food that is not

spicy. Ah, I can't wait to go here. Next

one. Yunan, capital Kuning. So, like I

said before, this is the most ethnically

diverse province in all of China. Out of

all the 56 recognized ethnic groups in

China, this province has 25 of them.

Almost half of all of them are in this

province. Some of them include the uh

Bi, the Hani, the Dai, the Nashi, the

Liu, you know, like the capital Kuning.

They even have like an ethnic group

presentation thing that they do all the

time where you could see like all of

them. This place is famous for tea. Some

of the best tea in all of China is grown

here, specifically puer tea. It's also

incredibly biodiverse here as well. The

three parallel rivers area has more

biodiversity than anywhere else in

China. Some say in all of Asia, some say

in the entire world. It has everything.

You can even find Asian elephants over

here. This is basically the area that

kind of like blends China into Southeast

Asia. Like it borders all three like

Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. So it's like

these areas had always historically had

some kind of connection to Southeast

Asia and the peoples migrated over time

historically. Like for example, Burmese

people actually were descended from the

peoples of the mountainous areas of the

Yunan province. Like they migrated down.

So it's like there's always been a

Southeast Asian connection to this area.

They have really cool sites like Dali

Vijang and Shangriila which changed

their name from Chongian for tourism

purposes because Shangria, you know,

that's just the name of like a fictional

place, but they changed it for tourism.

And I'm going to go there. I can't wait.

They have the stone forest of Sheilin

and the tropics of Shiwuang Bana. Yeah,

it's just like this place has so much

going on both socially and like

naturally. Next one, capital Ho.

Basically, this place is kind of like

Jang Su. It's another very prosperous

eastern coastal province. The tech and

private enterprise sector is huge out

here. They have the water towns of Wu

Chen and Shitang. Ningbo port is super

important here. They also have the

world's largest tidal boar, the what's

it called? The silver dragon. Basically,

it's like a wave that races up on the

Chiang River. You've probably seen

videos of it. Like the wave just keeps

going. And Ho's West Lake is so famous.

Like, it is inspired so many writings

from Chinese poets. They say heaven

above, Hcho below. And it it's kind of

like the hub where a lot of

entrepreneurs came from, obviously, like

Jack Ma. Alibaba originated in Hcho. But

uh yeah, and a lot of uh ancient poets

also came from here such as uh Su

Dongpo. It's basically the home of

China's economic private sector boom and

e-commerce revolution. So there you go.

That was the basic surface level summary

of all the 22 provinces of China. I know

there's a lot of things I missed. Like

it's it's China. You can't easily

summarize it in one video, okay? I tried

my best to just get to the point. If

there's anything I missed, if you wanted

me to mention something but I didn't

mention it, please write it in the

comments, okay? teach us if you are

Chinese, if you are from China, if

you've lived in China and you know some

stuff, let us know. Write it in the

comments. Okay. Anyway, hope you like

Geography Now. Subscribe. I'll try to be

here as much as I can for you guys. All

right. Hope you have a good one. Cheers.

Stay cool. Stay tuned.

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