Administrative divisions of China By its political level, when a "city" is referred to, it can be a: By its actual area and population, it can be: When used in the statistical data, the word "city" may have three different meanings: It is important to specify the definition of "city" when referring to statistical data of Chinese cities, otherwise, confusion may arise. For example, Shanghai is the largest city in China by population in the urban area but is smaller than Chongqing by the population within the administration area. Before the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, China was ruled by a network of kings,
Telecommunications in China international fiber-optic links include those to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and Germany. Fixed and mobile operators in China include China Mobile, China Netcom, China TieTong, China Satcom (former), China Telecom and China Unicom. In 2014 only 3 countries (China, US, Japan) host 50 % of the globally installed telecommunication bandwidth potential. China replaced the U.S. in its global leadership in terms of installed bandwidth in 2011. By 2014, China hosts more than twice as much national bandwidth potential than the U.S., the historical leader in terms of installed telecommunication bandwidth (29% versus 13% of the global total) (see