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| | Encyclopedia: Political division of China (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19) |
 | | Special administrative regions were provided for in the 1982 Constitution in anticipation of the retrocession of Hong Kong and Macau, but were only established in 1997 and 1999 in Hong Kong and Macau respectively when China resumed its exercise of sovereignty in these regions. |
 | | Special administrative regions are nominally designated first-order (provincial-level) administrative divisions like other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, but SARs reserve much bigger autonomy, with their own courts of final appeal, legal systems, passports, currencies, customs control, immigration policies, extradition, etc., except diplomatic relations and national defence. |
 | | In general, urban areas are divided into subdistricts (街道办事处 jiēdàobànshìchù or simply 街办 jiēbàn, literally "street offices"), while rural areas are divided into towns (镇 zhèn), townships (乡 xiāng), and ethnic townships (民族乡 mínzúxiāng). |
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