A sub-provincial city (simplified Chinese: 副省级城市; traditional Chinese: 副省級城市; pinyin: fùshĕngjí chéngshì) (or deputy-provincial city) in the People's Republic of China, is like a prefecture-level city that is ruled by a province, but is administered independently in regard to economy and law.

A sub-provincial city, similar to a prefecture-level city, is not a "city" in the usual sense of the term (i.e. a large continuous urban settlement), but instead an administrative unit comprising, typically, a main central urban area (a city in the usual sense, with the same name as the sub-provincial city), and its much larger surrounding rural area containing many smaller cities, towns and villages. The larger sub-provincial cities can be over 100 km across in size.^{[clarification needed]}

The mayor of a sub-provincial city is equal in status to a vice-governor of a province. Its status is below that of municipalities, which are independent and equivalent to provinces, but above other, regular prefecture-level cities, which are completely ruled by their provinces. The original 16 sub-provincial cities were created on February 25, 1994 by the Central Organization Committee out of prefecture-level cities. They are sometimes the capitals of the provinces in which they are located.

Map of sub-provincial level entries in the People's Republic of China

Map of Sub-provincial level entries in the People's Republic of China

Sub-provincial city

Currently, there are 15 sub-provincial cities:

Chongqing was formerly a sub-provincial city of Sichuan until 1997, when it was made a municipality by splitting it out of Sichuan altogether. Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps also has the powers of a sub-provincial city.

Guangzhou, Harbin and Chengdu are the largest sub-provincial cities; each has a population exceeding that of the independent municipality of Tianjin while, both Harbin and Chengdu have a bigger area then Tianjin.

Proposed Sub-provincial cities

• Kunming, Yunnan
• Wenzhou, Zhejiang

Sub-provincial new areas

Additionally, the head of Pudong New Area of Shanghai and Binhai New Area of Tianjin, which is a county-level district, is given sub-provincial powers.

Sub-provincial autonomous prefecture

Sub-provincial Municipal Conference

The National Standing Committee of Sub-provincial Municipal People's Congresses' Chairmen Joint Conference (全国副省级城市人大常委会主任联席会议) are attended by the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of all sub-provincial cities. It was proposed by the Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress in 1985. The conferences:

• 1. February 26 – March 4, 1985, Guangzhou
• ...
• 16. October 10, 2000, Chengdu
• 17. October 30, 2001, Guangzhou
• 18. July 23, 2002, Harbin
• 19. October 8, 2003, Wuhan
• 20. August 31, 2004, Shenyang
• 21. September 6, 2005, Qingdao
• 22. October 6, 2006, Shenzhen
• 23. August 17, 2007, Dalian
• 24. April 13, 2009, Xi'an
• 25. 2010, Nanjing