Greater administrative areas (大行政区 Pinyin: daxingzhengqu) were an early top-level subdivision of the People's Republic of China that directly governed provinces and municipalities. These were the largest ever political divisions of China and were controlled by the Central People's Government. They were dissolved from June to November 1954.

The greater administrative areas originated from the of the districts of the general governors (總督轄區), established during the late Qing Dynasty. The six greater administrative areas were:

Area	Hanzi	Initial subdivisions	1st chairman	Capital	Creation	People's gov't creation
North China Area	華北區	Hebei, Shanxi, Chahar, Pingyuan, Suiyuan, Beijing, and Tianjin	?	Beijing?	May 1948	August 1948
Northeast China Area	東北區	Songjiang, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Liaodong, Liaoxi, Rehe, Lüshun-Dalian, Shenyang, Benxi, Anshan, and Fushun	Gao Gang (高崗)	Shenyang	August 1946	August 1949
East China Area	華東區	Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Shandong, Shanghai, and Nanjing	Rao Shushi (饒漱石)	Shanghai	January 1950
Central and South China Area	中南區	Hubei, Hunan, Henan, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangdong, and Hankou	Lin Biao	Hankou	February 1950
Northwest Area	西北區	Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Xi'an	Peng Dehuai	Xi'an	January 1950
Southwest Area	西南區	Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Xikang, and Chongqing	Liu Bocheng	Chongqing	February 1950

North China Area was the first to be abandoned on October 31, 1949 when the capital was established in Beijing. Its governed provinces were directly controlled by the Branch of North China (事務部) of the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government instead. In May 1952, the control was again transferred to North China Administrative Council (行政委員會) of the Government Administration Council.

Entities equivalent to greater administrative areas were:

• Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region: never belonged to any greater administrative areas
• The Executive Committee of Qiongyai Minority Nationality Autonomous Region (瓊崖少數民族自治區行政委員會) from 1949, later assigned to Central and South China Area; the predecessor of Hainan
• Local Xizang Government (西藏地方政府) from 1951, later belonged to Southwest Area

Except the Northeast, which was governed by a People's Government, the areas' highest government bodies were Military and Administrative Committee (軍政委員會), which were replaced by administrative councils in November 1952.

The leaders of the greater administrative areas were chairmen (主席). (This is why the heads of autonomous regions are still called chairmen.)

The military areas, divisions of some major banks, and civilian aviation districts are still divided like the greater administrative areas.

See also

• History of the political divisions of China