Administrative divisions of the Republic of China

The Republic of China (ROC) currently administers two nominal provinces^[1] and directly administers two direct-controlled municipalities:

Provinces (streamlined)

• 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

Direct-controlled Municipalities

• Taipei City
• Kaohsiung City (also administering Dongsha Islands and Taiping Island of the South China Sea Islands)

These top-level divisions prescribed by the 1947 Constitution, which was drafted while the Kuomintang still controlled mainland China and kept in place to validate the ROC government's claim as the government of China. The provincial governments of Fujian and Taiwan have been largely streamlined, since 1949 and 1998, respectively.

Special considerations

Streamlined provinces

Since 1949, the most controversial part of the political division system of the ROC has been the existence of the Taiwan Province, as its existence was part of a larger controversy over the political status of Taiwan. Since 1997, most of the Taiwan provincial government's duties and powers have been transferred to the national government of the Republic of China in the constitutional changes. The much smaller Fujian province consisting of Kinmen and Matsu, on the other hand, had most of its authority passed off to its two counties.

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.

Re-organization

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.

Before 2008, the likelihood of consolidation was low. Many of the cities had a political geography which were very different from their surrounding counties, making the prospect of consolidation highly politically charged. For example, while the Kuomintang argued that combining Taipei City, Taipei County, and Keelung City into a metropolitan Taipei region would allow for better regional planning, the Democratic Progressive Party argued that this is merely an excuse to eliminate the government of Taipei County, which it had at times controlled, by swamping it with votes from Taipei City and Keelung City, which tended to vote Kuomintang.

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.^[2] 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.

President Ma Ying-jeou of Kuomintang in his 2008 election campaign platform advocated for a rearrangement of three municipalities and 15 counties. Since his inauguration, his administration has started to prepare for this.^[3] The city and county of Taichung is to merge in 2010 and join Taipei and Kaohsiung as a directly-controlled municipality. The city–county pairs for Hsinchu, Chiayi, and Tainan are aiming to merge in 2011, with the city annexed into an expanded county in each case. In 2011, Kaohsiung county will also be annexed by the Kaohsiung Municipality. Taipei County will move from quasi-municipality to de jure status in 2009, and in 2014 merge with the cities of Taipei and Keelung to form a larger municipality. The whole project is scheduled to complete in 2014, two years after the end of Ma’s first presidential mandate.

Proposals for the following were approved by the Ministry of the Interior on 23 June 2009: promotion of Taipei County to become Xinbei City (新北市) awaiting further merger with Taipei Municipality and Keelung City, the merger of Kaohsiung Municipality and County, and the merger of the City and County to form a promoted Taichung Municipality.^[4] In the same meeting, the merger of the City and County of Tainan was referred to the Cabinet (Executive Yuan). This merger and promotion proposal was finally approved on 29 June 2009 to give the Tainan-fu Municipality (臺南府市), evoking the Qing-era name of the prefecture.^[5] Follow-up legislation to give substance to this approval is expected in due course. The original Ma plan for three municipalities turned out four in the event.

Approved ROC municipalities in 2010

The ROC municipalities approved in 2010 were as follows^[6]:

Direct-controlled municipalities of the Republic of China

Map	No.	Division name	Trad.	Simp.	Hanyu Pinyin	Abbr.	Population	Area (km²)
1 2 3 4 5	1	Taipei City	臺北市	台北市	Táiběi Shì	北 běi	2,622,933	271.7997
	2	Xinbei City	新北市	新北市	Xīnběi Shì	新 xīn	3,849,492	2,052.5667
	3	Taichung City	臺中市	台中市	Táizhōng Shì	中 zhōng	2,629,323	2,214.8968
	4	Tainan City	臺南市	台南市	Táinán Shì	南 nán	1,873,681	2,191.6531
	5	Kaohsiung City	高雄市	高雄市	Gāoxióng Shì	高 gāo	2,769,072	2,946.2527

Proposals for ROC municipalities and counties

Proposals	Changes	June 2009 Population - Combine	Current Area (km²) - Combine	Map (before)						Map (after)
2-A	Hsinchu City + Hsinchu County = Hsinchu County (新竹市 + 新竹縣 = 新竹縣)	915,012	1,531.6864
2-B	Chiayi City + Chiayi County = Chiayi County (嘉義市 + 嘉義縣 = 嘉義縣)	821,721	1,961.6956
2-C	Taipei City + Xinbei City + Keelung City = Taipei City (臺北市 + 新北市 + 基隆市 = 臺北市)	6,854,715	2,457.1244

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 June 2010, in areas under the ROC control:

The number of neighborhood, the lowest administrative level, is 147,940 under 7,830 villages in the ROC. And, to tell distinct neighborhood is from ordinal number, not from distinctive name. In total, there are 368 thirdly entities (rural and urban townships, county-controlled cities, and districts, in Chinese: 鄉鎮市區 xiāngzhènshìqū ).

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.

Direct-controlled Municipalities

Romanization	Chinese	Tongyong Pinyin	Hanyu Pinyin	Wade-Giles	Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Pha̍k-fa-sṳ	City Seat	City Seat in Chinese
Taipei City	臺北市, 台北市	Taibei	Táiběi	T'ai2-pei3	Tâi-pak	Thòi-pet	Xinyi District	信義區
Kaohsiung City	高雄市	Gaosyong	Gāoxióng	Kao1-hsiung2	Ko-hiông	Kô-hiùng	Lingya District	苓雅區

Provincial Municipalities

In Taiwan Province:

Romanization	Chinese	Tongyong Pinyin	Hanyu Pinyin	Wade-Giles	Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Pha̍k-fa-sṳ	City Seat	City Seat in Chinese
Chiayi City	嘉義市	Jiayi	Jiāyì	Chia1-i4	Ka-gī	Kâ-ngi	East District	東區
Hsinchu City	新竹市	Sinjhu	Xīnzhú	Hsin1-chu2	Sin-tek	Sîn-tsuk	North District	北區
Keelung City	基隆市	Jilong	Jīlóng	Chi1-lung2	Ke-lâng	Kî-lùng	Jhongjheng District	中正區
Taichung City	臺中市, 台中市	Taijhong	Táizhōng	T'ai2-chung1	Tâi-tiong	Thòi-chûng	West District	西區
Tainan City	臺南市, 台南市	Tainan	Táinán	T'ai2-nan2	Tâi-lâm	Thòi-nàm	Anping District	安平區

Counties

In ROC's administrative divisions , counties or Sien or Hsien (Traditional Chinese: 縣, Pinyin: Xiàn) are officially found in the second level; however, the streamlining of Taiwan Province has effectively made the county the first level below the Republic of China central government's rule. Within Fujian Province the county is still the second level. There are 18 counties administered by the Republic of China, including 16 in Taiwan Province and 2 in Fujian Province.

In Taiwan Province:

In Fujian Province (Wade-Giles: Fuchien, Postal Romanization: Fukien):

Re-organization plan in 2010

This plan will come into force in December 25, 2010.

Map	No.	Romanization	Chinese	Hanyu Pinyin	Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Pha̍k-fa-sṳ	City/County Seat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22	Direct-controlled Municipalities (直轄市)
	1	Kaohsiung City	高雄市	Gāoxióng	Ko-hiông	Kô-hiùng
	2	Taichung City	臺中市，台中市	Táizhōng	Tâi-tiong	Thòi-chûng	Xitun District	西屯區
	3	Tainan City	臺南市，台南市	Táinán	Tâi-lâm	Thòi-nàm
	4	Taipei City	臺北市，台北市	Táiběi	Tâi-pak	Thòi-pet	Xinyi District	信義區
	5	Xinbei City	新北市	Xīnběi	Sin-pak	Sîn-pet	Banqiao District	板橋區
	Taiwan Province (臺灣省，台灣省)
	6	Chiayi City	嘉義市	Jiāyì	Ka-gī	Kâ-ngi	East District	東區
	7	Hsinchu City	新竹市	Xīnzhú	Sin-tek	Sîn-tsuk	North District	北區
	8	Keelung City	基隆市	Jīlóng	Ke-lâng	Kî-lùng	Zhongzheng District	中正區
	9	Changhua County	彰化縣	Zhānghuà	Chiong-hoà	Chông-fa	Changhua City	彰化市
	10	Chiayi County	嘉義縣	Jiāyì	Ka-gī	Kâ-ngi	Taibao City	太保市
	11	Hsinchu County	新竹縣	Xīnzhú	Sin-tek	Sîn-tsuk	Zhubei City	竹北市
	12	Hualien County	花蓮縣	Huālián	Hoa-liân	Fâ-lièn	Hualien City	花蓮市
	13	Miaoli County	苗栗縣	Miáolì	Biâu-le̍k	Mèu-li̍t	Miaoli City	苗栗市
	14	Nantou County	南投縣	Nántóu	Lâm-tâu	Nàm-thèu	Nantou City	南投市
	15	Penghu County	澎湖縣	Pénghú	Phêⁿ-ô͘	Phàng-fù	Magong City	馬公市
	16	Pingtung County	屏東縣	Píngdōng	Pîn-tong	Phìn-tûng	Pingtung City	屏東市
	17	Taitung County	臺東縣，台東縣	Táidōng	Tâi-tang	Thòi-tûng	Taitung City	臺東市
	18	Taoyuan County	桃園縣	Táoyuán	Thô-hn̂g	Thò-yèn	Taoyuan City	桃園市
	19	Yilan County	宜蘭縣	Yílán	Gî-lân	Ngì-làn	Yilan City	宜蘭市
	20	Yunlin County	雲林縣	Yúnlín	Hûn-lîm	Yùn-lìm	Douliu City	斗六市
= Direct-controlled Municipality (直轄市)      = Provincial City (省轄市 or 市)      = County (縣)	Fukien Province (福建省)
	21	Kinmen County	金門縣	Jīnmén	Kim-mn̂g	Kîm-mùn	Nangan Township	南竿鄉
	22	Lienchiang County	連江縣	Liánjiāng	Liân-kang	Lièn-kông	Jincheng Township	金城鎮

Romanization

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 Taichung 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.^[7][8]

Claims over mainland China and Mongolia

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.

Old map.

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 (KMT) 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 in Russia)) 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 Zhongxing Village from Taipei in the 1960s.
2. Taipei, Kaohsiung were elevated in 1967 and 1979, respectively, after the ROC government had moved to Taipei in 1949.
3. Taichung, Tainan, and Xinbei will be elevated on 25 December 2010 since last reform.

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
• ISO 3166-2:TW

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

Administrative divisions of the Republic of China (Otherwise known as Taiwan). Direct-controlled municipalities Kaohsiung · Taipei Taiwan Province Counties Changhua · Chiayi · Hsinchu · Hualien · Kaohsiung · Miaoli · Nantou · Penghu (Pescadores) · Pingtung · Taichung · Tainan · Taipei · Taitung · Taoyuan · Yilan · Yunlin Cities Chiayi · Hsinchu · Keelung · Taichung · Tainan Fujian Province Counties Kinmen · Lienchiang (Matsu Islands) Note: On December 25, 2010 the pink highlighted administrative divisions will be restructured or merged into direct-controlled municipalities. See also: Free Area of the Republic of China.

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