Several parts combine into one character.

The traditional 廳 is a phonetic-semantic compound: 广 (the "sloped roof" radical, indicating a sheltered structure) + 聽 (tīng, "to listen"). The composite reads as "the building where one listens to the people's voices" = a hall where officials hear petitions and concerns. The character's etymology embeds an entire political philosophy: a government office is fundamentally a place where the rulers listen to the ruled. Three CJK regions then simplified differently: traditional Korea retains 廳 in its full elaborate form; Japan simplified to 庁 (a roof over 丁); Mainland China to 厅. One concept, three scripts.

Korean reading "cheong." 廳舍 (cheongsa, government building / agency premises), 官廳 (gwancheong, government office — paired with 官), 區廳 (gucheong, district office — Korean local government), 市廳 (sicheong, city hall — major Korean civic landmark), 檢察廳 (geomchalcheong, prosecutors' office), 國稅廳 (gukse-cheong, National Tax Service). Korean uses 廳 across multi-tier government structure.

Mandarin tīng, 1st tone (simplified 厅). The Mandarin meaning evolution is striking: 厅 became the everyday word for "large room / hall" rather than primarily "government office": 客厅 (kètīng, "guest hall" = living room — every Chinese apartment has a 客厅), 餐厅 (cāntīng, "dining hall" = restaurant / dining room), 办公厅 (bàngōngtīng, administrative office), 大厅 (dàtīng, lobby / large hall). The shift from "office where officials listen" to "any large interior space" is uniquely Mandarin.

Japanese on-reading チョウ (chō) — 庁 (chō, government agency), 庁舎 (chōsha, government agency building), 都庁 (Tochō, "Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office" — the iconic twin-tower Kenzo Tange building in Shinjuku is 都庁舎), 警視庁 (Keishichō, "Metropolitan Police Department" — Tokyo's police headquarters; the name is famous from countless Japanese detective dramas), 気象庁 (Kishōchō, Japan Meteorological Agency — issues earthquake warnings and typhoon forecasts), 文化庁 (Bunkachō, Agency for Cultural Affairs). Japanese government structure abounds with 庁 (agency-level) and 省 (ministry-level) divisions.

Memory aid: a sloped roof (广) over the act of listening (聽) — the building where officials listen to the people = a government agency.