Commandery

A commandery (jùn 郡), also translated as prefecture, was a historical administrative division that existed since the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046 BC - 256 BC) until the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907).

In European countries often the order of administrative divisions, from large to small, is as follows:
 * country --> province --> county --> cities/villages.

During the aforementioned period of Chinese dynasties it was like this:
 * country --> province --> commandery --> county --> cities/villages.