Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities (the other three are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and the only such municipality in inland China. The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the sub-provincial city administration that was part of Sichuan Province. As of November 2010, the municipality had a population of 28,846,200 although the urbanized area is estimated to have a population of only 6 or 7 million. Chongqing is the largest direct-controlled municipality, and comprises 19 districts, 15 counties, and 4 autonomous counties.