Special municipality (Taiwan)

Special municipalities (Chinese: 直轄市; pinyin: zhíxiáshì; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ti̍t-hat-chhī) are one of first-level divisions in Taiwan. Currently there are five special municipalities in Taiwan: Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Taipei. In addition, Taoyuan is planning to be approved as the sixth special municipality in 2014. ^[1]

Position in hierarchy

Special municipalities are the highest level cities in Taiwan. Some cities of lower levels may also refer to themselves as municipalities.^[2] However, refers to them using the following conventional terms:

Three levels of cities in Taiwan:

1. Special municipalities (直轄市 zhíxiáshì)
2. Provincial cities (市 shì or 省轄市 shěngxiáshì)
3. County-controlled cities (縣轄市 xiànxiáshì)

History

Mainland Era

In the era, the Republic of China government ruled mainland China, twelve cities were ever assigned as special municipalities. They are

The system of top-level municipality were designed in 1927 soon after they were designated as "cities" during the 1920s. These cities were first called special municipalities/cities (Chinese: 特別市; pinyin: tébíeshì), but were later renamed Yuan-controlled municipalities (Chinese: 院轄市; pinyin: yùanxíashì), by the Central Government.

Taiwan Era

Five special municipalities in Taiwan were created after the Republic of China government took control following World War II. Taipei was made a Yuan-controlled municipality in 1967; Kaohsiung was elevated in 1979; New Taipei, Taichung and Tainan also elevated to special municipality in 2010. Since 1994, Yuan-controlled municipalities (院轄市 yuànxiáshì) have been officially called special municipality (直轄市 zhíxiáshì) to emphasize their autonomy. Besides significant political, economic and cultural development, the ROC law dictates that a municipality must have population of over 1,250,000.

Administration

In Taiwanese municipalities, the mayor is the highest-ranking official in charge. The mayor is directly elected by the people registered in the municipality for a duration of four years.

Current special municipalities

No.	Name	Chinese	Mandarin Pinyin	Taiwanese Pe̍h-oē-jī	Hakka Pha̍k-fa-sṳ	Population	Area (km²)	Date of establishment	Mayor	Map
1	Kaohsiung City	高雄市	Gāoxióng shì	Ko-hiông-chhī	Kô-hiùng-sṳ	2,769,083	2,946.2527	Jul. 1, 1979	Chen Chu	1 2 3 4 5
2	New Taipei City	新北市	Xīnběi shì	Sin-pak-chhī	Sîn-pet-sṳ	3,849,492	2,052.5667	Dec. 25, 2010	Eric Chu
3	Taichung City	臺中市 台中市	Táizhōng shì	Tâi-tiong-chhī	Thòi-chûng-sṳ	2,629,323	2,214.8968	Dec. 25, 2010	Jason Hu
4	Tainan City	臺南市 台南市	Táinán shì	Tâi-lâm-chhī	Thòi-nàm-sṳ	1,873,681	2,191.6531	Dec. 25, 2010	William Lai
5	Taipei City	臺北市 台北市	Táiběi shì	Tâi-pak-chhī	Thòi-pet-sṳ	2,622,933	271.7997	Jul. 1, 1967	Hau Lung-pin

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  Kaohsiung City
  

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  New Taipei City
  

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  Taichung City
  

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  Tainan City
  

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  Taipei City
  

Proposals for special municipalities in 2014^[3]

Changes	June 2009 Combined population	Combined area (km²)	Map (before)			Map (after)
Taipei City + New Taipei City + Keelung City → Taipei City (臺北市 + 新北市 + 基隆市 → 臺北市)	6,854,715	2,457.1244
Taoyuan County → Taoyuan City (桃園縣 → 桃園市) [4]	2,020,103	1,220.9540

References

v t e Administrative divisions of the Republic of China Provinces (2) Taiwan Fujian Special municipalities (5) Kaohsiung New Taipei Taichung Tainan Taipei Provincial cities (3) Chiayi Hsinchu Keelung Counties (14) Changhua Chiayi Hsinchu Hualien Kinmen Lienchiang Miaoli Nantou Penghu Pingtung Taitung Taoyuan Yilan Yunlin See also Free area of the Republic of China, List of administrative divisions of Taiwan