"xian" and the decrease of their sizes over time in the Chinese history. Zhou () or Fu () In the context of Chinese history during or after the Tang Dynasty, the word "prefecture" is used to translate zhou (Wade–Giles chou (), another ancient unit of administration in China, equivalent to the modern province. The modern sense In modern-day China, the prefecture (; pinyin: ) is an administrative division found in the second level of the administrative hierarchy. In addition to prefectures, this level also includes autonomous prefectures, leagues, and prefecture-level cities. The prefecture level comes under the province level, and in turn oversees the county level. Italian prefettura In Italy a prefettura is the office of prefetto; like in France they are the representative of the Government in each provincia. French préfecture In France, a préfecture is the capital city of a department, and by metonymy also designates the office and residence of the prefect. As there are 101 departments in France, there are 101 prefectures. A préfecture de région is the capital city of an administrative region. This is the city where the prefect - the appointed government representative - resides. Japanese sense of prefecture In English, "prefecture" is used as the translation for , which are the main subdivisions of Japan. They consist of 43 prefectures (県 ken) proper, two urban prefectures (府 fu, Osaka and Kyoto), one "circuit" or "territory" (道 dō, Hokkaido) and one "metropolis" (都 to, Tokyo). Before the end of World War II, the word was also used for overseas areas 庁 (chō)、州 (shu) and 道 (dō, in Korea). Korean equivalents of prefecture Until 1894 (; ) was the lowest level administrative division in Korea and can be translated into "Petty Prefecture" in the modern sense. It was below (, ; "county") in the administrative hierarchy. (; ) was a higher level administrative division and can be translated into "Protectorate General", "Greater Prefecture", "Metropolitan Prefecture", or "Martial Prefecture" in the modern sense. The capital, Hanyang (Seoul), can sometimes be translated as "Hanseong Prefecture". In 1895, and divisions were abolished. From 1910 to 1949, the term "prefecture" was used to translate (; ). Since 1949 neither nor have been used, and there has been no division in either the South Korean or North Korean administrative system which translates as "prefecture". Mongolian equivalent Mongolian prefectures (Aimags) were adopted during Qing Dynasty's rule. Today these are usually