In the People's Republic of China, a public security bureau (PSB) (Chinese: 公安局; pinyin: Gōng'ānjú) refers to a government office essentially acting as a police station or a local or provincial police force; the smallest police stations are called police posts (Chinese: 派出所; pinyin: Pai'chūsuǒ). The PSB system is similar in concept to the Japanese Kōban system, and is present in each province and municipality. Typically, a PSB handles policing (law enforcement), public security, and social order, the other duties of such offices include residence registration ("hukou"), as well as internal and external migration matters, such as the registration of temporary residents (including both foreign and domestic visitors).
The system of public security bureaus is administered by the Ministry of Public Security, which co-ordinates the work of provincial public security bureaus that are also answerable to the local governments and Communist Party branches. Provincial public security bureaus in turn administer county or district level public security sub-bureaus and branch bureaus, which perform a role similar to larger police stations. The lowest level outposts are police posts, which perform a role similar to small local police stations.
The network of public security bureaus and the Ministry of Public Security should not be confused with the separate but parallel network of state security bureaus, administered at the national level by the Ministry of State Security of the People's Republic of China, which is responsible for external and internal intelligence, and performs a "secret police" role. The two systems are administratively separate, although at local levels they co-operate to a large extent and often share resources.
Most major Chinese cities will have a PSB assigned to deal with local security needs. Each province, municipality and autonomous region (excluding the Special Administrative Regions of Macau and Hong Kong) has a provincial-level PSB to deal with provincial security issues. The only places in People's Republic of China without a public security bureau are in the Special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, which under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle have their own police forces.
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