Once part of Sichuan province, it was carved off in 1997 to become what Beijing calls a provincial-level city, joining Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin in that category.
Hardest hit, say analysts, are those brands that haven't built up nationally by expanding into second- and third-tier cities developed provincial capitals and prefecture or country-level city capitals where consumer demand is still strong.
Its Mount Seymour Provincial Park - just moments from the city centre - provides more than a dozen popular hiking trails and the possibility of sighting (preferably from a good distance) a bear or cougar.
The group is blamed for a resurgence of sectarian violence including a recent spate of killings in the south-western city of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
More than 60 people have been killed in the city since the weekend when a provincial assembly by-election was held.
Jinze turned out to be a bustling provincial township within the city limits, filled with grimy concrete-block housing and shabby stores.
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Both Mr. Sharif's PML-N and Mr. Khan's PTI draw much of their support from Punjab, the country's wealthiest province, and the election is particularly hard-fought in Lahore, the provincial capital and the country's second largest city.
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Both Mr. Sharif's PML-N and Mr. Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf draw much of their support from Punjab, the country's wealthiest province, and the election was particularly hard-fought in Lahore, the provincial capital and the country's second largest city.
The financier, who has swapped his Czech citizenship for Irish, failed to appear in a court in Plzen, a provincial city, on March 17th to testify in the retrial of a former secret-service agent, Vaclav Wallis.
In its 700-odd years of recorded history, the city has been both capital city and provincial backwater.
Pro-regime forces - including those at the provincial airport about 60km (40 miles) from Raqqa - remain a threat, fighters in the city said.
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He was hired by RT, the Kremlin-financed television station, after giving an impressive presentation on a cucumber festival in the provincial city of Kirov, he says.
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During Estrada's presidential campaign, Manuel worked as the then-vice president's chief fundraiser while Ronaldo handled the political aspects, recruiting opposition candidates for provincial governors, city and town mayors and congressmen.
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