Autonomous municipality [upper-roman 1] | |
---|---|
Category | Special municipalities, counties, and cities |
Location | Island of Taiwan |
Number | 3 (as of 2019) |
Populations | 267,772–448,207 |
Areas | 60–133 km2 |
Government |
|
Subdivisions |
This article is part of a series on |
Administrative divisions of Taiwan |
---|
Centrally-governed |
Township-level |
Village-level |
Neighborhood-level |
|
Historical divisions of Taiwan (1895–1945) Republic of China (1912–49) |
An autonomous municipality [1] , county-level city or city, [upper-roman 1] previously provincial city, is a de jure second-level administrative division unit in the Republic of China (Taiwan). [2]
The provincial cities were formerly under the jurisdiction of provinces, but the provinces were streamlined and effectively downsized to non-self-governing bodies in 1998, in 2018 all provincial governmental organs were formally abolished. [2] [3] Provincial cities along counties, are presently regarded as de facto principal subdivisions directed by the central government of the ROC.
The first administrative divisions entitled "city" were established in the 1920s when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. At this time cities were under the jurisdiction of prefectures. After the World War II, nine (9) out of eleven (11) prefectural cities established by the Japanese government were reform into provincial cities. Their roman spellings are also changed to reflect the official language shift from Japanese to Mandarin Chinese, but characters remain the same.
Character | Japanese (before 1945) | Chinese (after 1945) | Character | Japanese (before 1945) | Chinese (after 1945) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
臺北 | Taihoku | Taipei | 嘉義 | Kagi | Chiayi | |
基隆 | Kīrun | Keelung | 臺南 | Tainan | Tainan | |
新竹 | Shinchiku | Hsinchu | 高雄 | Takao | Kaohsiung | |
臺中 | Taichū | Taichung | 屏東 | Heitō | Pingtung | |
彰化 | Shōka | Changhua |
The reform was based on the Laws on the City Formation (市組織法) of the Republic of China. This law was passed in the early 20th century. The criteria for being a provincial city included being the provincial capital as well as having a population of over 200,000, or over 100,000 if the city had particular significance in politics, economics, and culture. The division reform in 1945 had some compromises between the Japanese and the Chinese systems, some of the cities with population under the criteria were still be established as provincial cities.
After the government of the Republic of China relocated to Taipei, Taiwan in 1949, the population criterion for provincial cities was raised to 500,000 in the Guidelines on the Implementation of Local Autonomy in the Counties and Cities of Taiwan Province (臺灣省各縣市實施地方自治綱要), which was passed in 1981. It was later raised again to 600,000. Since the streamline of provinces in 1998, provincial cities are all directly under the central government, and are simply referred to as cities.
The People's Republic of China (PRC), which claims Taiwan as its 23rd province, has all of its provincial cities classified as county-level city.
Date | Addition | Removal | No. | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
1945-10 | Changhua, Chiayi, Hsinchu, Kaohsiung, Keelung, Pingtung, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei [4] | 9 | Reorganised from the prefecture-administered cities in the period under Japanese rule. | |
1950-08-16 | Chiayi | 8 | Merged into Chiayi County and became a county-administered city | |
1951-12-01 | Changhua, Hsinchu, Pingtung | 5 | Downgraded to county-administered cities | |
1967-07-01 | Taipei | 4 | Upgraded to a special municipality | |
1979-07-01 | Kaohsiung | 3 | Upgraded to a special municipality | |
1982-07-01 | Chiayi, Hsinchu | 5 | Upgraded from county-administered cities | |
2010-12-25 | Taichung, Tainan | 3 | Merge with Taichung County and Tainan County, and upgraded to special municipalities | |
Current cities: Chiayi, Hsinchu, Keelung (3). |
Currently, the Local Government Act of the Ministry of the Interior applies for the creation of a city, in which a city needs to have a population between 500,000 and 1,250,000 and occupies major political, economical and cultural roles. [5] Note that all three existing cities are not qualified for the population test, they were built for historical reasons.
There are currently three cities, all in Taiwan Province:
Name [6] | Chinese | Hànyǔ Pīnyīn | Wade–Giles | Tongyòng Pinyin | Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī | Hakka Pha̍k-fa-sṳ | Area | City Seat | Establishment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chiayi | 嘉義市 | Jiāyì | Chia¹-i⁴ | Jiayì | Ka-gī | Kâ-ngi | 60.03 km2 | East District | 東區 | 1982-07-01 |
Hsinchu | 新竹市 | Xīnzhú | Hsin¹-chu² | Sinjhú | Sin-tek | Sîn-chuk | 104.10 km2 | North District | 北區 | 1982-07-01 |
Keelung | 基隆市 | Jīlóng | Chi¹-lung² | Jilóng | Ke-lâng | Kî-lùng | 132.76 km2 | Zhongzheng District | 中正區 | 1945-10-25 |
Their self-governed bodies (executive and legislature) regulated by the Local Government Act are:
Name | Executive | Legislature | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Government | Mayor | Current Mayor | City Council | No. of seats | |
Chiayi | Chiayi City Government | Mayor of Chiayi | Huang Min-hui | Chiayi City Council | 24 |
Hsinchu | Hsinchu City Government | Mayor of Hsinchu | Ann Kao | Hsinchu City Council | 33 |
Keelung | Keelung City Government | Mayor of Keelung | Lin Yu-chang | Keelung City Council | 32 |
Taiwan Province is a de jure administrative division of the Republic of China (ROC). Provinces remain a titular division as a part of the Constitution of the Republic of China, but are no longer considered to have any administrative function practically.
The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there are five levels of local government; the provincial, prefecture, county, township, and village.
Taiwan is divided into multi-layered statutory subdivisions. Due to the complex political status of Taiwan, there is a significant difference in the de jure system set out in the original constitution and the de facto system in use today.
Hsinchu, formerly known as Tek-chhàm, or Shinchiku during Japanese rule, is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan that is not a special municipality, with estimated 450,655 inhabitants. Hsinchu is a coastal city bordering the Taiwan Strait to the west, Hsinchu County to the north and east, and Miaoli County to the south. Nicknamed the Windy City for its strong northeastern monsoon during the autumn and winter seasons.
ISO 3166-2:TW is the entry for Taiwan, "Taiwan, Province of China", or "Taiwan ", in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
A prefecture-level city or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure.
A sub-provincial division in China is a prefecture-level city governed by a province promoted by half-a-level. Thus, it is half-a-level under the provincial level, and half-a-level above the prefecture-level, hence the name "sub-provincial".
A county-administered city is a third-level administrative division in the Republic of China (Taiwan) below a county, which in turn is below of a province. Under the administrative structure of the ROC, it is at the same level as a township or a district. Such cities are under the jurisdiction of counties. It is also the lowest-level city in Taiwan, below a city and a special municipality. There are 14 county-administered cities currently under ROC control.
Hsinchu County is a county administered as part of the nominal Taiwan Province of the Republic of China (ROC). Located in north-western Taiwan, the population of the county is mainly Hakka; with a Taiwanese aboriginal minority in the southeastern part of the county. Zhubei is the county seat, where the government office and county office is located. A portion of the Hsinchu Science Park is located in Hsinchu County.
The elections in Taiwan each held every four years, typically in January and November. Since 2012 the previously eleven types of elections in Taiwan have been unified into general and local elections. There may also be by-elections. Electoral systems include first-past-the-post, proportional representation, single non-transferable voting, and a parallel mixture of the above.
Fuchien Province, also romanized as Fujian and rendered as Fukien, is a nominal province of the Republic of China without formal administrative function. It includes three small archipelagos off the coast of the Fujian Province of the People's Republic of China, namely the Matsu Islands, which make up Lienchiang County, and the Wuqiu Islands and Kinmen Islands, which make up Kinmen County. The seat of the administrative centre is Jincheng Township of Kinmen County which serves as its de facto capital. The province is also known as the Golden Horse, after the literal reading of the Chinese character abbreviation for "Kinmen-Matsu".
The free area of the Republic of China, also known as the "Taiwan Area of the Republic of China", the "Tai-Min Area " or simply the "Taiwan Area", is a term used by the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to refer to the territories under its actual control. As a legal term written in the Additional articles of the ROC constitution and Cross-Strait Act.
The recorded history of Taipei began with the Han Chinese settling of the Taipei Basin in 1709, leading up to the formation of the national capital of Taiwan and high-tech industry hub and that is now Taipei City. Other notable dates include the 1895 annexation of Taiwan by Japan, during which Taipei began to grow more rapidly, and in the 1950s, the USA's provision of financial assistance to the Republic of China government, after which the city continued on a path of fast structural and industrial growth.
Districts are administrative subdivisions of the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s special municipalities of the second level and provincial cities of the third level formerly under its provinces. There are two types of district in the administrative scheme.
A county, constitutionally known as a hsien, is a de jure second-level administrative division unit in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Under the administrative structure of Taiwan, it is with the same level of a provincial city.
Special municipality, historically known as Yuan-controlled municipality, is a first-level administrative division unit in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Along with provinces, it is the highest level of the country's administrative structure under its territorial jurisdiction and is equivalent to a province. After the suspension of the provincial governments of 2018, the special municipalities along with provincial cities and counties have all governed directly under the central government.
Villages are the basic level administrative subdivisions of the Republic of China, under townships, county-administered cities or districts. There are two types of villages depending on the divisions it belongs to.
The administrative divisions of China between 1912 and 1949 were established under the regime of the Republic of China government.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) is divided into 2,854 county-level divisions which rank below prefectures/provinces and above townships as the third-level administrative division in the country. Of these, 2,842 are located in territory controlled by the PRC, while 172 are located in land controlled by the Republic of China (ROC).