{{Short description|Geographical region of China}} {{Redirect|Eastern China|the airline|China Eastern Airlines||}} {{expand Chinese|华东地区|date=October 2021|topic=geo}} {{more citations needed|date=October 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox settlement | name = East China | subdivision_type = Country |settlement_type=Region | image_skyline = {{multiple image |border = infobox |total_width = 290 |image_style = border:1; |perrow = 2/2
|image1 = SkylineShanghaiPudongSeptember2021(2).jpg |caption1 = Lujiazui CBD |image2 = Leifang Pagoda Sunset.jpg |caption2 = West Lake |image9 = 青岛德国总督楼旧址西北面俯览.jpg |caption9 = Old town of Qingdao |image8 = 190801 天游峰景区 （6）.jpg |caption8 = Wuyi Mountains }} | subdivision_name = {{PRC}} | image_map = East China.svg | map_caption = | population_total = 425784000 | population_as_of = 2024 | population_footnotes = <ref name="census2020"> {{cite web |url=http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202105/t20210510_1817185.html |title=Main Data of the Seventh National Population Census |publisher=National Bureau of Statistics of China |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511031334/http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202105/t20210510_1817185.html |archive-date=11 May 2021 }}</ref> | population_density_km2 = 483 | area_total_km2 = 795837 | blank_name = GDP | blank_info = 2024<ref name="data2022">GDP-2022 is a preliminary data {{cite press release |url=https://data.stats.gov.cn/english/easyquery.htm?cn=E0102 |title=Home - Regional - Quarterly by Province |publisher=China NBS |access-date=16 March 2023 |archive-date=4 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604191044/https://data.stats.gov.cn/english/easyquery.htm?cn=E0102 |url-status=live }}</ref> | blank1_name = - Total | blank1_info = CN¥{{FXConvert|CHN|52221|b|lk=on}} | blank2_name = - Per capita | blank2_info = CN¥{{FXConvert|CHN|122647|lk=on}} | blank_name_sec2 = Largest city | blank_info_sec2 = Shanghai }}
'''East China''' ({{zh|s=华东|p=huá dōng}}) is a geographical region in the People's Republic of China, mainly consisting of seven province-level administrative divisions, namely the provinces (from north to south) Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, and the direct-administered municipality Shanghai.
The region was defined in 1945 as the jurisdiction area of the Central Committee's '''East China Bureau''' ({{zh|s=华东局|label=no}}), which was a merger politburo agency of the Shandong Bureau and the Central China Bureau previously established during the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the region included all the aforementioned provinces except Jiangxi, which was previously considered part of South Central China before being reassigned in 1961. The East China Bureau was abolished in 1966 due to the Cultural Revolution, but in 1970 the fourth five-year plan redefined the region as the '''East China Coordinated Region''' ({{zh|华东协作区|label=no}}), which supported the logistics of the Jinan and Nanjing Military Regions. This geographical definition was retained after the economic reform of the 1980s.
Since the Chinese Government claims sovereignty over Taiwan and the few outlying islands of Fujian (Kinmen and Matsu), which have been ruled by the exiled Government of the Republic of China (who fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War in 1949) as its own territory, the nominal "Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China" is also classified in this region.
==Administrative divisions== {| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:100%;"Į |- style="background:#efefef;" !align="center"|GB<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/work/design/chinastdb_1210.doc |title=GB/T 2260 codes for the provinces of China |access-date=23 September 2012 |archive-date=22 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222001326/http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/work/design/chinastdb_1210.doc |url-status=live }}</ref> !align="center"|ISO No. 3166-2:CN<ref>ISO 3166-2:CN (ISO 3166-2 codes for the provinces of China)</ref> !align="left"|Province !align="left"|Chinese Name !align="left"|Capital !align="right"|Population (2020 census) !align="right"|Density !align="right"|Area !align="center" class="alphabetical"| Abbreviation ! align="center" |Abbreviation in Chinese |- {{tent division chn 1|Shanghai Municipality |{{lang|zh-Hans|上海市}}|{{lang|zh-Hans|上海市}}|{{lang|zh|Shànghǎi Shì}} |{{lang|zh-Hans|沪}} |31|ff8585| |''Shanghai''| 24,870,895| 3,922.24|6,341|SH|{{lang|zh|Hù}}}} {{tent division chn 1|Jiangsu Province |{{lang|zh-Hans|江苏省}}|{{lang|zh-Hant|江蘇省}}|{{lang|zh|Jiāngsū Shěng}} |{{lang|zh-Hans|苏}} |32|9696ff| |Nanjing | 84,748,016| 847.91|102,600|JS|{{lang|zh|Sū}}}} {{tent division chn 1|Zhejiang Province |{{lang|zh-Hans|浙江省}}|{{lang|zh-Hant|浙江省}}|{{lang|zh|Zhèjiāng Shěng}}|{{lang|zh|浙}} |33|9696ff| |Hangzhou | 64,567,588| 615.67|102,000|ZJ|{{lang|zh|Zhè}}}} {{tent division chn 1|Anhui Province |{{lang|zh-Hans|安徽省}}|{{lang|zh-Hant|安徽省}}|{{lang|zh|Ānhuī Shěng}} |{{lang|zh-hans|皖}} |34|9696ff| |Hefei | 61,027,171| 436.29|139,700|AH|{{lang|zh|Wǎn}}}} {{tent division chn 1|Fujian Province |{{lang|zh-Hans|福建省}}|{{lang|zh-Hant|福建省}}**|{{lang|zh|Fújiàn Shěng}}|{{lang|zh-hans|闽}} |35|9696ff| |Fuzhou | 41,540,086| 335.66|121,300|FJ|{{lang|zh|Mǐn}}}} {{tent division chn 1|Jiangxi Province |{{lang|zh-Hans|江西省}}|{{lang|zh-Hant|江西省}}|{{lang|zh|Jiāngxī Shěng}} |{{lang|zh-hans|赣}} |36|9696ff| |Nanchang | 45,188,635| 270.69|167,000|JX|{{lang|zh|Gàn}}}} {{tent division chn 1|Shandong Province |{{lang|zh-Hans|山东省}}|{{lang|zh-Hant|山東省}}|{{lang|zh|Shāndōng Shěng}} |{{lang|zh-hans|鲁}} |37|9696ff| |Jinan | 101,527,453| 643.78|153,800|SD|{{lang|zh|Lǔ}}}} |- style="background:#FFCCCC;"{{tent division chn 1|''Taiwan Province''{{efn|The People's Republic of China considers Taiwan to be its 23rd province, but Taiwan is currently administrated by the Republic of China. Since 1945, the ROC only controls the island of Taiwan and Penghu. For Kinmen and Matsu, see note on Fujian Province. See also Political status of Taiwan}} |{{lang|zh-Hans|台湾省}}|{{lang|zh-Hant|台灣省}}|{{lang|zh|Táiwān Shěng}} |{{lang|zh-hans|台}} |71|9696ff| |Taipei | 23,162,123| 650.97|36,161|TW|{{lang|zh|Tái}}}} |}
==Cities with urban area over one million in population== Provincial capitals in '''bold'''. {| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%;" !#!!City!!style ="background-color: #aaaaff;"|Urban area<ref name ="2010PRCcensus"/>!!style ="background-color: #aaffaa;"|District area<ref name ="2010PRCcensus"/>!!style ="background-color: #ffaaaa;"|City proper<ref name ="2010PRCcensus">{{cite book |author=国务院人口普查办公室、国家统计局人口和社会科技统计司编 |date=2012 |script-title=zh:中国2010年人口普查分县资料 |location=Beijing |publisher=中国统计出版社 [China Statistics Press] |isbn=978-7-5037-6659-6 }}</ref>!!Prov.!!Census date |- |1||'''Shanghai'''||20,217,748||22,315,474||23,019,196||SH||2010-11-01 |- |2||'''Nanjing'''||5,827,888||7,165,292||8,003,744||JS||2010-11-01 |- |3||'''Hangzhou'''||5,162,093||6,241,971||8,700,373||ZJ||2010-11-01 |- |4||'''Jinan'''||3,527,566||4,335,989||6,813,984||SD||2010-11-01 |- |5||Qingdao||3,519,919||3,718,835||8,715,087||SD||2010-11-01 |- |6||Suzhou||3,302,152||4,072,081||10,459,890||JS||2010-11-01 |- |7||Xiamen||3,119,110||3,531,347||3,531,347||FJ||2010-11-01 |- |8||'''Hefei'''||3,098,727||3,310,268||5,702,466||AH||2010-11-01 |- |9||'''Fuzhou'''||2,824,414||2,921,762||7,115,369||FJ||2010-11-01 |- |10||Wuxi||2,757,736||3,543,719||6,374,399||JS||2010-11-01 |- |11||Wenzhou||2,686,825||3,039,439||9,122,102||ZJ||2010-11-01 |- |12||Ningbo||2,583,073||3,491,597||7,605,689||ZJ||2010-11-01 |- |13||Zibo||2,261,717||3,129,228||4,530,597||SD||2010-11-01 |- |14||Changzhou||2,257,376||3,290,918||4,592,431||JS||2010-11-01 |- |15||'''Nanchang'''||2,223,661||2,357,839||5,042,566||JX||2010-11-01 |- |16||Yantai||1,797,861||2,227,733||6,968,202||SD||2010-11-01 |- |17||Xuzhou||1,735,166||1,967,214||8,577,225||JS||2010-11-01 |- |18||Nantong||1,612,385||2,274,113||7,283,622||JS||2010-11-01 |- |19||Huai'an||1,523,655||2,635,406||4,801,662||JS||2010-11-01 |- |20||Linyi||1,522,488||2,303,648||10,039,440||SD||2010-11-01 |- |21||Weifang||1,261,582||2,044,028||9,086,241||SD||2010-11-01 |- |22||Huainan||1,238,488||1,666,826||2,333,896||AH||2010-11-01 |- |23||Taizhou||1,189,276||1,902,510||5,968,838||ZJ||2010-11-01 |- |24||Jinjiang||1,172,827||1,986,447||{{small|''see Quanzhou''}}||FJ||2010-11-01 |- |25||Quanzhou||1,154,731||1,435,185||8,128,533||FJ||2010-11-01 |- |26||Yancheng||1,136,826||1,615,836||7,262,200||JS||2010-11-01 |- |27||Tai'an||1,123,541||1,735,425||5,494,207||SD||2010-11-01 |- |28||Kunshan||1,118,617||1,644,860||{{small|''see Suzhou''}}||JS||2010-11-01 |- |29||Wuhu||1,108,087||1,307,042||2,263,123||AH||2010-11-01 |- |30||Putian||1,107,199||1,953,801||2,778,508||FJ||2010-11-01 |- |31||Yangzhou||1,077,531||1,392,563||4,460,066||JS||2010-11-01 |- |32||Cixi||1,059,942||1,462,383||{{small|''see Ningbo''}}||ZJ||2010-11-01 |- |33||Jiangyin||1,013,670||1,595,138||{{small|''see Wuxi''}}||JS||2010-11-01 |}
== See also == {{Portal|China}} * Yangtze River Delta
== Notes == {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Wikivoyage-inline|East China}}
{{-}} {{China topics}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:East China Category:Regions of China