The term Prefectures, or the more formal prefectural level divisions, in the context of China, is used to refer to several unrelated political divisions in both ancient and modern China. Other than provincial level divisions, prefectural level divisions are not mentioned in the Chinese constitution. The prefectural government (Chinese: 行政公署; pinyin: xíngzhèng gōngshǔ) is an administrative branch office with the rank of a national ministerial department (Chinese: 司级) and dispatched by the higher-level provincial government. The leader of the prefecture government, titled as prefectural commissioner (Chinese: 行政公署专员; pinyin: xíngzhèng gōngshǔ zhūanyūan), is appointed by the provincial government. Instead of local People's Congresses, the prefecture's working commission of the standing committee of the provincial People’s Congress is dispatched and supervises the prefecture governments, but can not elect or dismiss prefecture governments. The prefecture's working committee of the provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is a part of the prefecture's committee of the CPPCC. This means that the prefecture's working committee of CPPCC is a branch of the provincial committee of CPPCC, not an individual society entity. The same is valid for provincial CPPCC, which are formally sections of the national CPPCC.

China (ⁱ/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.

The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.

Liangshan (Chinese: 凉山彝族自治州; pinyin: Liángshān Yízú Zìzhìzhōu; Yi: ꆃꎭ Niep Sha, pronounced [nɛ̀ʂā]), officially the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in Sichuan, south central China whose capital is Xichang. Liangshan has an area of 60,423 km² and over 4.5 million inhabitants (2010). It is also has the largest population of ethnic Yi people in China.^{[clarification needed]}

Yi people came into Chinese and western history books as 罗罗 (Lolo) and 夷 in the beginning. After the Chinese Communist Party came into power in mainland China, the government changed the name from 罗罗 to 彝 since the old name was widely regarded as derogatory.

The appellations of Lolo, Lolopu, etc. are related to the Yi people’s worship of the tiger, as “lo” in their dialects means "tiger". "Lo" is also the basis for the Chinese exonym Luóluó 猓猓, 倮倮, or 罗罗. The original character 猓, with the "dog radical" 犭and a guǒ 果 phonetic, was considered condescending, comparable to the Chinese name guǒran 猓然 "a long-tailed ape".