Administrative divisions of the Republic of China

The Republic of China (ROC) currently administers two historical provinces of China (one completely and a small part of another one) and centrally administers two direct-controlled municipalities:

• Taipei Municipality
• Taiwan Province; consists of the island of Taiwan, except the two municipalities, plus Penghu county (Pescadores Islands) and a number of outlying islands
  • Sixteen counties
  • Five provincial cities
• Fujian Province; consists of several islands offshore of the Chinese mainland:
  • Kinmen County (Quemoy)
  • part of Lienchiang County, namely Matsu
• Kaohsiung Municipality (also administering Dongsha Islands and Taiping Island of the South China Sea Islands)

Special considerations

Streamlined provinces

The two provinces have been effectively streamlined in administration, leaving the two centrally administered municipalities, five provincial municipalities, and eighteen counties as the principal divisions of the Republic of China.

Joint Service Centers

The central government operates three regional Joint Service Centers (區域聯合服務中心) outside Taipei as outposts of the government ministries in the Executive Yuan, similar to the cross-departmental mode of working in the Government Offices in England. These regions, laid out the Comprehensive National Spatial Development Plan for Taiwan (臺灣地區國土綜合開發計劃), can be considered a de facto level of government, perhaps equivalent to de jure provinces or similar to the English regions. There is one regional service center for each of the Southern Taiwan Region (with the center in Kaohsiung), the Central Taiwan Region (Taichung), and the Eastern Taiwan Region (Hualien). The Northern Taiwan Region is served by Taipei, the central government's administrative headquarters and de facto capital.

Quasi-municipality status for Taipei County

On 1 October 2007, per legislation newly coming into force, Taipei County was upgraded to become a quasi-municipality (“準直轄市”) on the same level as Kaohsiung City and Taipei City.^[1] It is allowed the organizational and budgetary framework of a de jure municipality, but is still formally styled as a county. The Taichung County and City are lobbying the central government for a similar status.

Mainland China and Mongolia

Additionally, the ROC has not officially renounced its claims over mainland China and Mongolia. This results in a division of the mainland into 35 provinces, different from that of the current PRC system.

Structural hierarchy

The number at the end are the amount of entities as of 2004, in areas under the ROC control:

• Municipality (2)
  • District (區; qū; cyu) (23)
    • Village (里; lǐ; li) (912)
      • Neighborhood (鄰; lín; lin) (17,988)
• Province (2)
  • Provincial municipality (5)
    • District (26)
      • Village (831)
        • Neighborhood (17,091)
  • County (18)
    • County-administered city (32)
      • Village (里; lǐ; li)
        • Neighborhood
    • Township: 226 rural townships (鄉; xiāng; siang) and 61 urban townships (鎮; zhèn; jhen)
      • Village (村; cūn; cun)
        • Neighborhood

The number of neighborhood, the lowest administrative level, is 146,112 under 7,809 villages in the ROC. And, to tell distinct neighborhood is from ordinal number, not from distinctive name. In total, there are 336 secondary entities (rural and urban townships, districts (of both types of municipalities), and county-administered cities).

In the ROC administrative scheme, a number of cities and counties have the same name, however, which are independent administrations. Tainan City and Tainan County, for example, which are completely different administrations. Generally, the biggest administrative area of structural hierarchy is direct-controlled municipality, then provincial city, and the last county-controlled city. In mainland China, the situation as is in reverse.

Romanization

Main article: Romanization of Chinese in Taiwan

The romanization used for ROC placenames is Wade-Giles, however consistently ignoring the punctuations (apostrophes and hyphens), except "Keelung" and "Quemoy", which are the more popular versions of romanization. "Chiayi" and "Yilan" are bastardized forms of the Wade-Giles version, "Chia-i" and "I-lan", respectively. After Tongyong Pinyin was adopted by the Chen Shuibian administration in 2002, most municipalities, provinces, and county-level entities retained Wade-Giles, with the aforementioned exceptions. Taipei is, together with Taizhong the only municipalities that use Hanyu Pinyin as standard and most street signs in Taipei have been replaced with Hanyu Pinyin, except for the place name "Taipei," which has retained the Wade-Giles spelling. With the Kuomintang (KMT)'s legislative and presidential electoral victories in 2008, Tongyong Pinyin will be replaced by Hanyu Pinyin as the ROC government standard, and will be the only official romanization system, starting in 2009^[2][3].

Municipalities

Romanization	Chinese	Tongyong Pinyin	Hanyu Pinyin	Wade-Giles	POJ
Taipei City	臺北市, 台北市	Táiběi	Táiběi	T'ai2-pei3	Tâi-pak-chhī
Kaohsiung City	高雄市	Gaosyóng	Gāoxióng	Kao1-hsiung2	Ko-hiông-chhī

Counties

In Taiwan Province:

Romanization	Chinese	Tongyong Pinyin	Hanyu Pinyin	Wade-Giles	POJ	Capital	Capital in Chinese
Changhua County	彰化縣	Jhanghuà	Zhānghuà	Chang1-hua4	Chiong-hòa-koān	Changhua City	彰化市
Chiayi County	嘉義縣	Jiayì	Jiāyì	Chia1-i4	Ka-gī-koān	Taibao City	太保市
Hsinchu County	新竹縣	Sinjhú	Xīnzhú	Hsin1-chu2		Jhubei City	竹北市
Hualien County	花蓮縣	Hualián	Huālián	Hua1-lien2	Hoa-liân-koān	Hualien City	花蓮市
Kaohsiung County	高雄縣	Gaosyóng	Gāoxióng	Kao1-hsiung2		Fongshan City	鳳山市
Miaoli County	苗栗縣	Miáolì	Miáolì	Miao2-li4		Miaoli City	苗栗市
Nantou County	南投縣	Nántóu	Nántóu	Nan2-t'ou2		Nantou City	南投市
Penghu County (Pescadores)	澎湖縣	Pénghú	Pénghú	P'eng2-hu2		Magong City	馬宮市
Pingtung County	屏東縣	Píngdong	Píngdōng	P'ing2-tung1		Pingtung City	屏東市
Taichung County	台中縣	Táijhong	Táizhōng	T'ai2-chung1		Fongyuan City	豐原市
Tainan County	台南縣	Táinán	Táinán	T'ai2-nan2		Sinying City	新營市
Taipei County	台北縣	Táiběi	Táiběi	T'ai2-pei3		Banciao City	板橋市
Taitung County	台東縣	Táidong	Táidōng	T'ai2-tung1		Taitung City	台東市
Taoyuan County	桃園縣	Táoyuán	Táoyuán	T'ao2-yüan2		Taoyuan City	桃園市
Yilan County	宜蘭縣	Yílán	Yílán	I2-lan2	Gî-lân-koān	Yilan City	宜蘭市
Yunlin County	雲林縣	Yúnlín	Yúnlín	Yün2-lin2		Douliou City	斗六市

In Fujian Province (Wade-Giles: Fuchien):

Romanization	Chinese	Tongyong Pinyin	Hanyu Pinyin	Wade-Giles	Capital	Capital in Chinese
Lienchiang County (Matsu)	連江縣	Liánjiang	Liánjiāng	Lien2-chiang1	Nangan Township	南竿鄉
Kinmen County	金門縣	Jinmén	Jīnmén	Chin1-men2	Jincheng Township	金城鎮

Provincial municipalities

In Taiwan Province:

Romanization	Chinese	Tongyong Pinyin	Hanyu Pinyin	Wade-Giles
Chiayi City	嘉義市	Jiayì	Jiāyì	Chia1-i4
Hsinchu City	新竹市	Sinjhú	Xīnzhú	Hsin1-chu2
Keelung (Chilung) City	基隆市	Jilóng	Jīlóng	Chi1-lung2
Taichung City	台中市	Táijhong	Táizhōng	T'ai2-chung1
Tainan City	台南市	Táinán	Táinán	T'ai2-nan2

Claims over mainland China and Mongolia

See also: History of the political divisions of China

Maps of the official borders of the Republic of China include mainland China and Mongolia

Map comparing political divisions as drawn by the Republic of China and People's Republic of China.

After its loss of mainland China to the Communist Party of China in the Chinese Civil War and its retreat to Taiwan in 1949, the Kuomintang continued to regard the Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China and hoped to recover the mainland one day. Although in 1991 President Lee Teng-hui stated that the ROC does not challenge the right of the Communist Party of China to rule in the mainland, the ROC has never formally (by means of the National Assembly) renounced sovereignty over mainland China (including Xinjiang and Tibet) and Greater Mongolia. Most observers feel that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party would much prefer to officially renounce such sovereignty. This ambiguous situation results in large part because a formal renouncement of sovereignty over mainland China could be taken as a declaration of Taiwan independence, which would be unpopular among some circles on Taiwan and could likely bring about military action by the People's Republic of China.

Accordingly, the official first-order divisions of Republic of China remain the historical divisions of China immediately prior to the loss of mainland China by the KMT with Taipei and Kaohsiung elevated as central municipalities. These are: 35 provinces, 2 areas, 1 special administrative region, 14 centrally-administered (provincial-level) municipalities, 14 leagues, and 4 special banners. For second-order divisions, under provinces and special administrative regions, there are counties, province-controlled cities (56), bureaus (34) and management bureaus (7). Under provincial-level municipalities there are districts, and under leagues there are banners (127).

Maps of China and the world published in Taiwan sometimes show provincial and national boundaries as they were in 1949, not matching the current administrative structure as decided by the Communist Party of China post-1949 and including outer Mongolia, northern Burma, and Tannu Uriankhai (part of which is present-day Tuva) as part of China (territories over which the PRC has renounced sovereignty). Recent moves by the DPP administration have been changing maps in school textbooks and official maps issued by the government to reflect the current divisions instituted by the PRC.

The current jurisdiction of the ROC is referred to as the "Free Area of the Republic of China" in the Constitution. In most ordinary legislation, the term "Taiwan Area" is used in place of the "Free Area", while Mainland China is referred to as the "Mainland Area". According to the Act Governing Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, originally promulgated in 1992 and last amended in 2004, the "Taiwan Area" refers to "Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and any other area under the effective control of the Government" and the "Mainland Area" refers to "the territory of the Republic of China outside the Taiwan Area."

1. The capital of Taiwan Province was moved to Jhongsing Village from Taipei in the 1960s.
2. Taipei and Kaohsiung were elevated in 1967 and 1979, respectively, after the ROC government had moved to Taiwan in 1949.

Criticism of political divisions

Historically the most controversial part of the political division system of the ROC has been the existence of Taiwan Province, as its existence was part of a larger controversy over the political status of Taiwan. In the mid-1990s, the provincial government was essentially stripped of almost all of its authority, but it remains a streamlined entity.

There has been some criticism of the current administrative scheme as being inefficient and inconducive to regional planning. In particular, most of the administrative cities are much smaller than the actual metropolitan areas, and there are no formal means for coordinating policy between an administrative city and its surrounding areas.

However, the likelihood of consolidation remains low. Many of the cities have a political geography which may be very different from their surrounding counties, making the prospect of consolidation highly politically charged. For example, while the Kuomintang argues that combining Taipei City, Taipei County, and Keelung City into a metropolitan Taipei region would allow for better regional planning, the Democratic Progressive Party argues that this is merely an excuse to eliminate the government of Taipei County, which it has at times controlled, by swamping it with votes from Taipei City and Keelung City, which tend to vote Kuomintang.

References

See also

• History of the Republic of China
• Political divisions of China
• Political divisions of Taiwan (1895-1945)
• Lists of Taiwanese counties and cities: by area · by population · by population density

External links

• 內政部地政司 (Department of Land Administration, Ministry of the Interior): Romanizations for county-level and township-level entities
• Map of ROC (including Quemoy and Matsu)
• Fuchien Provincial Government
• Taiwan Provincial Government

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