section_path: Government and politics/Administrative divisions
section_name: Administrative divisions
paragraph_text: Administrative divisions
  
  The PRC is constitutionally a unitary state divided into 23 provinces, five autonomous regions (each with a designated minority group), and four direct-administered municipalities —collectively referred to as "mainland China"—as well as the special administrative regions (SARs) of Hong Kong and Macau. The PRC regards the island of Taiwan as its Taiwan Province, Kinmen and Matsu as a part of Fujian Province and islands the ROC controls in the South China Sea as a part of Hainan Province and Guangdong Province, although all these territories are governed by the Republic of China (ROC). Geographically, all 31 provincial divisions of mainland China can be grouped into six regions: North China, Northeast China, East China, South Central China, Southwestern China, and Northwestern China.