Since 1991, under the subsidy of the Ministry of Interior, every township in our country published the Administrative Maps for themselves. Afterward, 23 city and county governments published the Administrative Maps in succession since 1995. Up to now, because of the difference of the dimension, the publish time, the characteristic, the design conception, the contractor and the compilation technique, the maps of different administrative district demonstrate various styles and characteristics. 'Administrative Map' is a kind of thematic map. However, all the publishers want to spread the spatial cognition over the administrative district to the users. That is, to enable the users to have the understanding of the natural environment and cultural information over the district through the construction of the maps. Consequently, the administrative map has become a multi-function map, and the map authors have to control the design principal and content. This paper is to discuss the design trend and compilation process of administrative map, and to serve as the reference for mapping plan.