On January 12, the administrative division adjustment program for towns and townships in the last seven counties that shook off poverty of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture got approved by the People's Government of Sichuan Province. Thus, the province's administrative division reform of this round among towns and townships was concluded. On January 13, a reporter learned from the Department of Civil Affairs of Sichuan Province that in this round of administrative division adjustment reform among towns and townships in the province, 1,170/210/129 towns/townships/subdistricts were cut in the 1st/2nd/3rd batch respectively, totaling 1,509, with a reduction rate of 32.73%.

　　Before the reform, there were 4,610 towns/townships/subdistricts in the province, including 351 subdistricts, 2,236 towns and 2,023 townships, ranking first in the country. The system of towns/townships/subdistricts showed the prominent problems of "big number, small area, large density and poor strength". That decentralized public resources, reduced service efficiency, increased operation costs, restricted economic development, and affected rural governance. In order to solve the contradictions between the micro-system and the macro-strategy for towns and townships, between the spatial layout and the urbanization process, between the management structure and the modernization of governance ability, Sichuan launched the administrative division reform at the town/township level in October 2019.

　　In this round of reform, a total of 1,509 towns/townships/subdistricts were reduced, with a reduction rate of 32.73%. After the reform, the province now has jurisdiction over 3,101 towns/townships/subdistricts, including 459 subdistricts, 2,016 towns and 626 townships. At present, the number of towns and subdistricts in the province reaches 80% of the total number of towns/townships/subdistricts, an increase of 24 percentage points over the pre-reform period. The average registered population of the towns/townships/subdistricts increased from 18,000 to 29,300, and the average territory area increased from 106 square kilometers to 156.7 square kilometers.

　　According to a responsible person of the Department of Civil Affairs of Sichuan Province, the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and People's Government of Sichuan Province carefully planned and scientifically arranged this round of administrative division reform at the town/township level from top-level design, and clearly put forward the principles of adhering to "adaptive adjustment" in the reform to promote high-quality development, high-level services and high-efficiency governance; adhering to "full respect for public opinions", no large-scale reductions and mergers and no figure-oriented assessment criteria; adhering to "adjusting measures to local conditions", choosing reductions and mergers where appropriate, setting scientific and reasonable target reduction rates, and rejecting the sweeping approach. Seen from the progress of the reform, all parts of the province transformed the pressure of reform and adjustment into the opportunity of integration and optimization and the motive force to promote high-quality development. Vigorous reform was carried out in many parts. For example, Liangshan Prefecture cut 246 towns/townships, a decrease of 44.73%. Mianyang City reduced 126 towns/townships, a reduction of 43.15%. In addition, Nanchong City and Guangyuan City both reduced the numbers of towns/townships/subdistricts by more than 40%.

　　"This reform is a combination blow," said the responsible person. This administrative division reform among towns and townships is one of the most extensive, most concerned and most far-reaching major fundamental reforms of the province in recent years. The reform included multiple specific actions, such as the adjustment of administrative division at the town/township level, the adjustment of the village-level organizational system, the adjustment and optimization of villager groups, and the optimization of the community-level organizational system. Besides administrative division, the adjustment also involved industrial development, urban layout, public services and primary-level governance. It is an overall, comprehensive, historic and critical reform. This reform has optimized the spatial layout of Sichuan's counties, consolidated the industrial foundation of rural revitalization, enhanced the carrying capacity of new urbanization, improved the service efficiency of primary-level governance, perfected the town/township staffing and cadre structure, and gave the masses a real sense of gains.

　　A few days ago, the result of the Collection of Annual Reform Cases of China 2020 was announced. The reform of Sichuan's administrative division at the town/township level and organizational system at the village level was selected as the only provincial special case.