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As I understand it, those "township-level units" have contested elections, making their councils somewhat accountable. Deputies to people's congresses of township-level units are elected directly by their constituencies to five-year terms. Does this also apply to people's congresses of the next level, the 11 urban county-level districts ("qū") and the two counties?
The majority of elections take place at the village level in about 1 million villages which represent about 80 per cent of the population in the countryside. Some governments at the town level hold elections, but the number is far fewer (I do not know the number) than that of villages, and it is a recent development. Another recent development is the election of street committees in urban areas. In other words, elections are held at the lowest administrative level of local government.
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Are decisions like building Nбnjīng Metro Line 2 taken at the Region (Shм) level, or the provincial level?
I did not follow the debates behind the construction of that project, but local governments are responsible for the economic and social development of their jurisdictions, and the metro line is under the jurisdiction of Nanjing Shi, not the province. So, given the costs of this project, the final decision must have been taken at the prefecture level.
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Do each of these regions have their own daily newspapers?
Party committees at each level of government publish their official newspapers, so the newspapers are essentially Party newsletters. Generally, people will hold public officials accountable when they independently take notice of problems in their surroundings that is affecting them.