The 20 Largest Cities in China

China is the world's largest country based on population with a total of 1,330,141,295 people. It is also the world's third largest country in terms of area as it covers 3,705,407 square miles (9,596,961 sq km). China is divided into 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, and four direct-controlled municipalities. In addition, there are over 100 cities in China that have a population greater than one million people.

The Most Populous Cities in China

The following is a list of the twenty most populous cities in China arranged from largest to smallest. All numbers are based on the metropolitan area population or in some cases, the sub-provincial city amount. The years of the population estimate have been included for reference. All numbers were obtained from the city pages on Wikipedia.org. Those cities with an asterisk (*) are direct-controlled municipalities.

1) Beijing: 22,000,000 (2010 estimate)*

2) Shanghai: 19,210,000 (2009 estimate)*

3) Chongqing: 14,749,200 (2009 estimate)*

Note: This is the urban population for Chongqing. Some estimates state that the city has a population of 30 million — this larger number is representative of both the urban and rural population. This information was obtained from the ​Chongqing Municipal Government​. ​

4) Tianjin: 12,281,600 (2009 estimate)*

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Largest Cities in the World

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5) Chengdu: 11,000,670 (2009 estimate)

6) Guangzhou: 10,182,000 (2008 estimate)

7) Harbin: 9,873,743 (date unknown)

8) Wuhan: 9,700,000 (2007 estimate)

9) Shenzhen: 8,912,300 (2009 estimate)

10) Xi'an: 8,252,000 (2000 estimate)

11) Hangzhou: 8,100,000 (2009 estimate)

12) Nanjing: 7,713,100 (2009 estimate)

13) Shenyang: 7,760,000 (2008 estimate)

14) Qingdao: 7,579,900 (2007 estimate)

15) Zhengzhou: 7,356,000 (2007 estimate)

16) Dongguan: 6,445,700 (2008 estimate)

17) Dalian: 6,170,000 (2009 estimate)

18) Jinan: 6,036,500 (2009 estimate)

19) Hefei: 4,914,300 (2009 estimate)

20) Nanchang: 4,850,000 (date unknown)