Administrative division of the Republic of China

Administrative division into cities and districts

The territory controlled by the Republic of China , founded on the Chinese mainland in 1912 , has been limited to the island of Taiwan and a number of smaller islands since 1949 . This territory is officially called the Free Area ( 自由地區 ) or Taiwan Area ( 臺灣地區 ).

Taiwan area (dark green) and mainland area (light green; excluding Outer Mongolia) of the Republic of China

There are six sub-government cities (the capital Taipei , New Taipei , Taoyuan , Taichung , Tainan and Kaohsiung ), 3 independent cities ( Keelung , Hsinchu and Chiayi ) and 13 counties in the Taiwan area .

The part of the claimed national territory that is de facto administered by the People's Republic of China is officially referred to as the mainland area ( 大陸地區 ). Mongolia , internationally recognized as a sovereign state, was also considered part of the mainland area until 2002.

Administrative division

The "Law on Local Institutions" ( 地方制度法 , English Local Government Act ) is fundamental to the organization of the administration at the lower levels . Accordingly, the provinces form the highest level of local government. So-called cities directly under the government ( 直轄市 , zhíxiáshì ) can be spun off from the provinces , which then stand on an equal footing with the provinces in the administrative hierarchy . The provinces are divided into administrative districts and urban districts.
The following diagram shows the different management levels:

Executive Yuan
行政院

Government immediate city
直轄市

Province
省

Independent city
市

District
縣

Aboriginal hill country municipality
直轄市山地原住民區

Municipality
區

County town
縣轄市

Municipality
鎮

Rural community
鄉

Mountain community of indigenous people
山地鄉

District / district
里

Village
村

Residential area
鄰

Provinces

From 1950 onwards, the area actually controlled by the government of the Republic of China only comprised the Taiwan Province and a small part of the Fujian Province . The most important metropolitan regions were spun off from Taiwan Province between 1976 and 2014 and placed directly under the central government. The province now comprises about 70% of the island of Taiwan, the Pescadoren archipelago in the Formosa Strait and other smaller islands. Its administrative headquarters are in Zhongxing, Nantou County in central Taiwan . The ROC-controlled part of Fujian Province includes several islands off the coast of mainland China, notably Kinmen (Quemoy) and Matsu . The provincial administration is located in Jincheng on Kinmen.

In the course of an administrative reform in 1998, the provincial administrations lost a large part of their powers. Since then, the provincial level has played a subordinate role in the administrative structure of the Republic of China. The governors of Taiwan and Fujian provinces have been members of the Executive Yuan (i.e., cabinet members) since 1999, and the provinces have ceased to exist as self-governing bodies. In 2018, the provincial administrations and the administrative seats were officially abolished.

Government immediate cities

Aboriginal mountainous boroughs
District name	Government immediate city	Language, ethnicity
Wulai ( 烏來區 )	New Taipei	Atayal
Fuxing ( 復興區 )	Taoyuan	Atayal
Heping ( 和平區 )	Taichung	Atayal
Namaxia ( 那瑪夏區 )	Kaohsiung	Bunun , Kanakanavu
Maolin ( 茂林區 )	Kaohsiung	Rukai
Tauyuan ( 桃源區 )	Kaohsiung	Bunun , Hla'alua

Regions with at least 1.25 million inhabitants and with the corresponding political, cultural and economic conditions can be raised to cities directly under the government. Just as independent cities do not belong to a district, but have the same rank in the administrative hierarchy as it, cities directly under the government are located outside the province and have the same rank as it. The same regulations also apply to districts that have at least 2 million inhabitants. Since 2014, a good quarter of the national territory has belonged to six megacities directly subordinate to the central government, in which together around two thirds of the population live. The administrative area of the cities directly under the government also includes the respective surrounding area including rural districts. Administratively, the cities directly under the government are subdivided into districts ( 區 , Qū ). Since the amendment of the "Law on Local Institutions" of January 29, 2014, some districts of cities under the government, which are predominantly inhabited by members of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan , have had a special self-government status as " hill country urban districts of the indigenous people" ( 直轄市山地原住民區 ). There are currently six such aboriginal districts in cities directly under the government.

At the head of each city is a mayor, directly elected for four years.

Counties and urban districts

The most important administrative units outside the cities directly under the government are the rural districts ( 縣 , Xiàn ), at the head of which there is a district administrator directly elected for a four-year term, and the provincial independent cities, whose mayors are also directly elected for four years and those of their respective surrounding areas managed separately. The former designation "provincial town" ( 省轄市 , Shěngxiáshì ) is usually no longer in use after the province has lost its importance as an administrative level, but simply speaks of "city" ( 市 , Shì ). The province of Taiwan includes eleven counties and three independent cities. The Pescadoren archipelago forms the district of Penghu, the remaining ten districts and all independent cities are located on the island of Taiwan . The Kinmen and Matsu archipelagos each form a district belonging to the Fujian Province.

Today's Republic of China is thus divided into a total of nine cities and 13 districts (population February 2016 according to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior):

Romanization	Han script	Tongyong Pinyin	Hanyu Pinyin	Wade-Giles	Area (km²)	Residents
Government immediate cities
Kaohsiung	高雄市	Gaosyóng	Gāoxióng	Kao ¹ -hsiung ²	2,947.6	2,778,574
New Taipei	新北市	Sinbei	Xīnběi	Hsin ¹ -pei ³	2,052.6	3,971,660
Taichung	臺中市	Táijhong	Táizhōng	T'ai ² -chung ¹	2,214.9	2,747,561
Tainan	臺南市	Tainan	Tainan	T'ai ² -nan ²	2,191.7	1,885,453
Taipei	臺北市	Táiběi	Táiběi	T'ai ² -pei ³	271.8	2,704,410
Taoyuan	桃園市	Táoyuán	Táoyuán	T'ao ² -yüan ²	1,221.0	2,111,148
One district cities
Chiayi	嘉義市	Jiayì	Jiāyì	Chia ¹ -i ⁴	60.0	270.297
Hsinchu	新竹市	Sinjhú	Xīnzhú	Hsin ¹ -chu ²	104.2	434.279
Keelung	基隆市	Jilóng	Jīlóng	Chi ¹ -lung ²	132.8	371.914

Romanization	Han script	Tongyong Pinyin	Hanyu Pinyin	Wade-Giles	Capital	Area (km²)	Residents
Counties
Changhua County	彰化縣	Jhanghuà	Zhanghuà	Chang ¹ -hua ⁴	Changhua	1,074.4	1,289,209
Chiayi County	嘉義縣	Jiayì	Jiāyì	Chia ¹ -i ⁴	Taibao	1,903.6	519.045
Hsinchu County	新竹縣	Sinjhú	Xīnzhú	Hsin ¹ -chu ²	Zhubei	1,427.5	542.821
Hualien County	花蓮縣	Hualián	Huālián	Hua ¹ -lien ²	Hualien	4,628.6	331,801
Kinmen County	金門縣	Jinmen	Jīnmén	Chin ¹ -men ²	Jincheng	151.7	132,960
Lianchiang County (Matsu Islands)	連江縣	Liánjiang	Liánjiāng	Lien ² -chiang ¹	Nangan	29.6	13,074
Miaoli county	苗栗縣	Miáolì	Miáolì	Miao ² -li ⁴	Miaoli	1,820.3	563.084
Nantou county	南投縣	Nántóu	Nántóu	Nan ² -t'ou ²	Nantou	4,106.4	508,586
Penghu County	澎湖縣	Pénghú	Pénghú	P'eng ² -hu ²	Magong	126.9	102,336
Pingtung County	屏東縣	Pngdong	Pngdōng	P'ing ² -tung ¹	Pinging	2,775.6	840.408
Taitung County	臺東縣	Táidong	Táidong	T'ai ² -tung ¹	Taitung	3,515.3	222.118
Yilan County	宜蘭縣	Yílán	Yílán	I ² -lan ²	Yilan	2,143.6	457.995
Yunlin County	雲林縣	Yúnlín	Yúnlín	Yün ² -lin ²	Douliu	1,290.8	698.753

cities and communes

Administrative structure at the level of the municipalities and city districts (2016)

The districts are subdivided into municipalities and cities belonging to the district. While there are no cities belonging to a district in mainland China (neither under the rule of the Republic of China nor today under the People's Republic of China ), municipalities in Taiwan with a population of more than 100,000 (before June 17, 2015: more than 150,000 inhabitants) usually receive city status or big city ( 市 , Shì , English city ). In addition, the capitals of all counties in Taiwan Province, but not Fujian Province, have been upgraded to cities. There are a total of 14 cities belonging to the district in the Republic of China ( 縣轄市 , Xiànxiáshì , status: 2018), the 13 district cities of the province of Taiwan and Puzi, the seat of parliament for the district of Chiayi.

There are also two types of parishes, which are called Zhen ( 鎮 , Zhèn , English urban township ) and Xiang ( 鄉 , Xiāng , English rural township ). The "urban communities" Zhen (also known as large communities ) are usually characterized by a higher population and a greater degree of urbanization than the "rural communities" Xiang.

The independent and government-independent cities are divided into districts ( 區 , Qū ), which in turn are subdivided into Li (districts, 里 ). The district cities, like the Zhen communities, are directly subdivided into Li (for the latter, 里 is better translated as “district”), the level of the city districts is omitted here. The Xiang communities are divided into villages ( 村 , Cūn ).

The lowest administrative level below the city districts, districts and villages form the residential areas in all cities and municipalities ( 鄰 , Lín - "neighborhoods").

Number of urban and rural municipalities, as well as urban districts
Period	number
1961	359
1962-1972	361
1973-1974	350
1975	360
1976-1981	371
1982-1988	368
1989	358
1990-2003	369
since 2004	368

Distribution of the 368 3rd order administrative units to rural districts and cities
170 city districts, 區 , Qū	Kaohsiung 38, Tainan 37, New Taipei 29, Taichung 29, Taoyuan 13, Taipei 12, Keelung 7, Hsinchu 3, Chiayi 2
146 rural communities, 村 , Xiāng	Pingtung County 29, Changhua County 18, Yunlin County 14, Chiayi County 14, Taitung County 13, Miaoli County 11, Hualien County 10, Hsinchu County 9, Yilan County 8, Nantou County 8, Penghu Islands 5, Matsu Islands 4, Kinmen 3
38 municipalities, 鎮 , Zhèn	Changhua County 6, Yunlin County 5, Miaoli County 5, Nantou County 4, Yilan County 3, Hsinchu County 3, Pingtung 3 County , Kinmen 3, Chiayi County 2, Taitung 2 County , Hualien 2 County
14 district towns, 市 , Shì	Changhua County 2, Chiayi County 2, Hsinchu County 1, Hualien County 1, Miaoli County 2, Nantou County 1, Penghu Islands 1, Pingtung County 1, Taitung County 1, Yilan County 1, Yunlin County 1

Administrative history of Taiwan Province in the Republic of China

Under Japanese rule , Taiwan and the pescadors were divided into seven prefectures from 1920, in 1926 the pescadors were separated from the prefecture of Takao, to which they initially belonged, and administered as the eighth prefecture of Hōko. The following prefectures existed between 1926 and 1945:

Japanese	Mandarin	Han script	today's administrative units	Area in km²	Inhabitants 1941
Taihoku	Taipei	台北州	Cities of Taipei , New Taipei and Keelung , Yilan County	4,594.2	1,233,882
Shinchiku	Hsinchu	新竹州	Hsinchu and Taoyuan Towns , Hsinchu and Miaoli Counties	4,570.0	838.011
Taichu	Taichung	台中州	Taichung City , Changhua and Nantou Counties	7,382.9	1,380,187
Tainan	Tainan	台南州	Cities of Tainan and Chiayi , Chiayi and Yunlin Counties	5,421.5	1,550,695
Takao	Kaohsiung	高雄州	City Kaohsiung , Pingtung County	5,721.9	930.383
Karenko	Hualien harbor	花蓮港廳	Hualien County	4,628.6	153,785
Taitō	Taitung	台東廳	Taitung County	3,515.3	93,138
Hoko	Penghu	澎湖廳	Penghu County	126.9	69,387

Administrative division of Taiwan Province in 1948: Counties Independent Cities Special Administrative Zone

When the Republic of China took control of Taiwan Province in 1945, it initially kept the division created by the Japanese and made the eight prefectures into the counties of Taipei , Hsinchu, Taichung , Tainan , Kaohsiung , Hualien, Taitung and Penghu. The nine cities of Taipei , Keelung , Hsinchu , Taichung , Changhua , Chiayi , Tainan , Kaohsiung and Pingtung were administered as independent cities. Hualien and Yilan retained the city status they had received under Japanese rule, but remained part of the Hualien and Taipei counties and thus became the first two towns in the Republic of China.

On August 16, 1950, a new district division came into effect, with the counties of Yilan (previously part of Taipei County ), Taoyuan , Miaoli (previously parts of Hsinchu County), Nantou , Changhua (previously parts of Taichung County ), Yunlin , Chiayi (previously part of Tainan County ) and Pingtung (previously part of Kaohsiung County) were newly created. The city of Chiayi was incorporated into the district of Chiayi. On December 1, 1951, Hsinchu, Changhua and Pingtung also became part of the respective counties, making the province of Taiwan 16 counties, five county-level and six county-level cities.

In 1956, the administrative headquarters of Taiwan Province moved from Taipei to Zhongxing in Nantou County . On November 11, 1967, Taipei was separated from Taiwan Province and became the first government-controlled city of Taiwan. Kaohsiung followed in 1979 and became the second government-controlled city.

On July 1, 1982, Hsinchu and Chiayi were restored to county status, making Taiwan province of 16 counties and five towns.

From 1962 onwards, municipalities belonging to a district with more than 100,000 (from 1977 to 2015: more than 150,000) inhabitants were upgraded to district towns. This included Sanchong and Zhongli in 1962 , Taoyuan in 1971 , Banqiao and Fengshan in 1972 , Taitung and Fengyuan in 1976 , Yonghe and Zhonghe in 1979 , Xinzhuang and Xindian in 1980 , Pingzhen in 1992 , Yongkang in 1993 , Tucheng and Dali in 1993 , Bade in 1995 , Taiping in 1996 , Luzhou in 1999 Xizhi and Shulin , 2010 Yangmei and 2015 Toufen and Yuanlin . Miaoli , Nantou , Douliu , Xinying and Magong received city status as county capitals in 1981 ; Zhubei followed in 1988, Taibao in 1991 and Puzi in 1992 (the seat of parliament in Chiayi County).

On December 25, 2010, Taipei County became New Taipei City, a sub- government ; Taichung , Tainan and Kaohsiung counties were incorporated into the respective cities of Taichung , Tainan and Kaohsiung . After the enlargement, Taichung and Tainan received the status of cities directly under the government. In 2014, the same thing happened in Taoyuan County.

Since all cities and municipalities in the previous districts of Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Taoyuan lost their independence, the total number of cities belonging to the district in the Republic of China was reduced from 33 to twelve as a result of the reorganization.

Web links

Ministry of Interior of the Republic of China

Individual evidence

^ Additional Articles . Office of the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Retrieved April 2, 2019 ..

↑ ^a ^b 臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例 ( zh-hant ) Accessed April 2, 2019.

^ Mongolian office to ride into Taipei by the end of the year . Taipei Times. October 11, 2002. Retrieved April 4, 2019.

↑ ^a ^b Local Government Act. Taiwan Ministry of Interior, January 29, 2014, accessed February 9, 2018 .

^ Government organizations: Local governments. Office of the President of the Republic of China, accessed May 1, 2018 .

↑ 台灣省政府 7/1 走入歷史國發會活化中興新村 , 2018.6.23 中央社

↑ THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT (LAST AMENDMENT: JANUARY 29, 2014). Council of Indigenous Peoples, accessed February 10, 2018 .

↑ 內政部統計月報 (“Monthly Statistics of the Ministry of the Interior”), 1.1- 土地面積、村里鄰、戶數暨現住人口數 (“1.1 number of villages, residential areas, households and resident population”). Taiwan Ministry of Interior, January 14, 2014, accessed February 10, 2018 (Chinese).

↑ statis.moi.gov.tw

^ Laws and Regulations: Local Government Act. Taiwan Ministry of the Interior, June 17, 2015, accessed May 13, 2018 .

↑ 內政部統計月報 (“Monthly Statistics of the Ministry of the Interior”), 1.1- 土地面積、村里鄰、戶數暨現住人口數 (“1.1 number of villages, residential areas, households and resident population”). Taiwan Ministry of the Interior, accessed February 9, 2019 (English, Chinese).

[1] Additional Articles . Office of the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Retrieved April 2, 2019 ..