Yeah, it’s different there.
But provincial borders still matter.
The only border control I’ve ever seen there is at the edge of cities. All roads have gates, manned by PLA, and to the locals this is normal. The only Provincial borders I have ever crossed by road were between Guangxi and Fujian, and I saw no gates.
Not that they can’t put them up in a few minutes!
I was last in China in 2018.