Sixteen Chinese Prefecture-Level Cities from Maoming to Sanya in Order of 2020 Population

Maoming is the largest of the sixteen at 6,174,050 residents in 2020. It lies in southwestern Guangdong facing the South China Sea, and its Grade I port handled 16.8 million tons of cargo in 2007.

Qujing counted 5,765,775 residents in 2020. This eastern Yunnan city borders Guizhou and Guangxi and has long been valued as a strategic gateway between Yunnan and Guizhou. Its recorded elevation is 1,873 meters.

Yongzhou recorded 5,289,824 residents in 2020 across about 22,255 square kilometers in southern Hunan. It stands along the Xiang River, which forms where the Xiao and Xiang Rivers converge, and is counted among the four ancient counties of Hunan.

Changzhou had 5,278,121 residents in 2020. It stands on the southern bank of the Yangtze in southern Jiangsu, has also been known as Yanling, Lanling and Jinling, and is the birthplace of Zhou Youguang, who created the pinyin romanization system.

Shaoxing had 5,270,977 residents in 2020, about seven thousand fewer than Changzhou. On the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay, it is the birthplace of the calligrapher Wang Xizhi and the writer Lu Xun, and in 2010 it celebrated the 2,500th anniversary of its founding.

Jiangmen had about 4.8 million residents in 2020. In Guangdong, it is the ancestral homeland of an estimated 4 million overseas Chinese, a legacy visible in the fortified diaolou towers of Kaiping, and it opened as a treaty port to Western trade in 1904.

Yangzhou had 4,559,797 residents in 2020. It sits on the north bank of the Yangtze in central Jiangsu, and its page records that a canal joined the Yangtze here to the Huai River by 486 BC, the year before a fortress was established.

Luzhou had 4,254,149 residents in 2020. Known as the Liquor City, it sits where the Tuo River meets the Yangtze in southeastern Sichuan, has been the largest port in the province since 1997, and gained prefecture-level city status in 1983.

Liupanshui had 3,031,602 residents in 2020. Its name combines characters from its three constituent counties, Liuzhi, Panzhou and Shuicheng, and it was established as a prefecture-level municipality in 1978 in western Guizhou.

Tianshui had 2,984,659 residents in 2020 and is the second-largest city in Gansu. It lies on the upper Wei River where the Loess Plateau meets the Qinling Mountains, at an elevation of 1,171 meters, and the Maijishan Grottoes are among its historic sites.

Xuancheng had 2,500,063 residents in 2020. In southeastern Anhui, in the lower Yangtze basin, it has been settled for more than 4,000 years according to archaeological digs and has been under formal administration since the Qin dynasty.

Hulunbuir had 2,242,875 residents in 2020 but covers about 252,777 square kilometers, by far the largest area of the sixteen. In northeastern Inner Mongolia, it borders Russia and Mongolia and is known for the Hulun Buir grasslands.

Dongying had 2,193,518 residents in 2020. It grew out of the Shengli Oilfield, China's second-largest petroleum reserve, and was established as a prefecture-level city in 1983 as a base for developing the Yellow River Delta.

Dandong had 2,188,436 residents in 2020, just behind Dongying. Facing Sinuiju in North Korea across the Yalu River, it is China's largest border city and a trade hub through which a significant share of China's trade with North Korea flows.

Heihe had 1,286,401 residents in 2020. It stands on the south bank of the Amur River in northern Heilongjiang, directly across from the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk, and marks the northeast end of the Heihe-Tengchong Line.

Sanya closes the trail with 1,031,396 residents in 2020, the fewest of the sixteen. It is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, a resort city with a 4,000 hectare coral reef reserve and the Guanyin of Nanshan statue.