County (Taiwan)

County

Xiàn
Category Unitary State
Location Taiwan
Number 13
Populations 12,506 (Lienchiang) – 1,291,474 (Changhua)
Areas 11.4307 square miles (29.605 km2) (Lienchiang) – 4,106.4360 square miles (10,635.620 km2) (Hualien)
Government County government, National Government
Subdivisions Township, County-controlled city
This article is part of a series on
Administrative divisions
of Taiwan
First-level
Second-level
Third-level
Fourth-level
Fifth-level
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Historical divisions of
Taiwan (1895–1945)
Republic of China (1912–49)

A county (Chinese: ; pinyin: xiàn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: koān) is an administrative division unit in Taiwan. Under the administrative structure of Taiwan, it is with the same level of a provincial city. Historically the counties were under the jurisdiction of provinces, but after the streamlining of provinces in 1998, they are all directly led by the central government.

History

The first administrative divisions named "county" () was first established in 1661 by the Kingdom of Tungning. The later ruler Qing empire inherited this type of administrative divisions. With the increase of Han Chinese population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan.

Taiwan was ceded to Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. The hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the Japanese system in the period when Taiwan under Japanese rule. By the end of World War II in 1945, Taiwan was divided into eight (8) prefectures ( and ). The prefectures were reformed into eight counties () with the same name under Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. Their roman spellings were also changed to reflect the official language shift from Japanese to Mandarin Chinese, but characters remained the same. Note that most of the Japanese prefectural cities were reformed to provincial cities and are not a part of counties.

Changes of counties in 1945 and 1950
Japanese prefecture
(before 1945)
County
(1945–1950)
Counties in 1950
CharacterRomanizationCharacterRomanization
臺北州Taihoku臺北縣TaipeiTaipei, Yilan
新竹州Shinchiku新竹縣HsinchuHsinchu, Miaoli, Taoyuan
臺中州Taichū臺中縣TaichungChanghua, Nantou, Taichung
臺南州Tainan臺南縣TainanChiayi, Tainan, Yunlin
高雄州Takao高雄縣KaohsiungKaohsiung, Pingtung
花蓮港廳Karenkō花蓮縣HualienHualien
臺東廳Taitō臺東縣TaitungTaitung
澎湖廳Hōko澎湖縣PenghuPenghu

In late 1949, the government of the Republic of China lost the Chinese Civil War and was relocated to Taipei, Taiwan. In 1950, the counties in Taiwan were reorganized. Counties in populous western Taiwan were split into two to three counties. This pushed the number of counties up to 16. After the war, the government only controlled a few offshore islands of mainland China. These territories were reorganized into two counties: Kinmen and Lienchiang under Fukien. The number of counties under jurisdiction, 16 in Taiwan and 2 in Fukien, remained stable in the period of Martial law in Taiwan until early 1990s.

List of counties from 1955 to 2010
NameChinese NameChinese NameChinese
Changhua彰化縣 Lienchiang連江縣 Tainan臺南縣
Chiayi嘉義縣 Miaoli苗栗縣 Taipei臺北縣
Hsinchu新竹縣 Nantou南投縣 Taitung臺東縣
Hualien花蓮縣 Penghu澎湖縣 Taoyuan桃園縣
Kaohsiung高雄縣 Pingtung屏東縣 Yilan宜蘭縣
Kinmen金門縣 Taichung臺中縣 Yunlin雲林縣

Following the democratic reforms in the early 1990s, more proposals of administrative division reforms were widely discussed and ultimately caused some populous counties be reformed to special municipalities in the 2010 and 2014. These counties are:

Currently, the counties are established according to the Local Government Act under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior. This act also endorses some special articles that grants counties with a population of over two million can grant some extra privileges in local autonomy that was designed for special municipalities. This type of counties are often called quasi-municipalities (準直轄市). This term applied to New Taipei and Taoyuan before they became special municipalities.

Current Counties

There are currently 13 counties:

Name[1]ChinesePinyin[1]Wade–GilesPe̍h-ōe-jīPha̍k-fa-sṳCounty seat
Changhua彰化縣ZhānghuàChang¹-hua⁴ Chiong-hoà Chông-fa Changhua City彰化市
Chiayi嘉義縣JiāyìChia¹-i⁴ Ka-gī Kâ-ngi Taibao City太保市
Hsinchu新竹縣XīnzhúHsin¹-chu² Sin-tek Sîn-tsuk Zhubei City竹北市
Hualien花蓮縣HuāliánHua¹-lien² Hoa-liân Fâ-lièn Hualien City花蓮市
Kinmen金門縣JīnménChin¹-men² Kim-mn̂g Kîm-mùn Jincheng Township金城鎮
Lienchiang連江縣LiánjiāngLien²-chiang¹ Liân-kang Lièn-kông Nangan Township南竿鄉
Miaoli苗栗縣MiáolìMiao²-li⁴ Biâu-le̍k Mèu-li̍t Miaoli City苗栗市
Nantou南投縣NántóuNan²-t'ou² Lâm-tâu Nàm-thèu Nantou City南投市
Penghu澎湖縣PénghúP'eng²-hu² Phêⁿ-ô͘ Phàng-fù Magong City馬公市
Pingtung屏東縣PíngdōngP'ing²-tung¹ Pîn-tong Phìn-tûng Pingtung City屏東市
Taitung臺東縣TáidōngT'ai²-tung¹ Tâi-tang Thòi-tûng Taitung City臺東市
Yilan宜蘭縣YílánI²-lan² Gî-lân Ngì-làn Yilan City宜蘭市
Yunlin雲林縣YúnlínYün²-lin² Hûn-lîm Yùn-lìm Douliu City斗六市

Under Article 9 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, regulated by the Local Government Act, each county has a government headed by an elected county magistrate and an elected county council exercising legislative functions. The governing bodies (executive and legislature) of the counties are:

NameExecutiveLegislature
GovernmentMagistratesCurrent MagistrateCounty CouncilNo. of seats
ChanghuaChanghua County GovernmentList of county magistrates of ChanghuaWei Ming-kuChanghua County Council54
ChiayiChiayi County GovernmentList of county magistrates of ChiayiHelen Chang (Chang Hua-kuan)Chiayi County Council36
HsinchuHsinchu County GovernmentList of county magistrates of HsinchuChiu Ching-chunHsinchu County Council34
HualienHualien County GovernmentList of county magistrates of HualienFu Kun-chiHualien County Council33
KinmenKinmen County GovernmentList of county magistrates of KinmenChen Fu-haiKinmen County Council19
LienchiangLienchiang County GovernmentList of county magistrates of LienchiangLiu Cheng-yingLienchiang County Council9
MiaoliMiaoli County GovernmentList of county magistrates of MiaoliHsu Yao-changMiaoli County Council38
NantouNantou County GovernmentList of county magistrates of NantouLin Ming-chenNantou County Council37
PenghuPenghu County GovernmentList of county magistrates of PenghuChen Kuang-fuPenghu County Council19
PingtungPingtung County GovernmentList of county magistrates of PingtungPan Men-anPingtung County Council55
TaitungTaitung County GovernmentList of county magistrates of TaitungJustin Huang (Huang Chien-ting)Taitung County Council30
YilanYilan County GovernmentList of county magistrates of YilanLin Tsung-hsienYilan County Council34
YunlinYunlin County GovernmentList of county magistrates of YunlinLee Chin-yungYunlin County Council43

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Counties of Taiwan.

References

  1. 1 2 "Glossary of Names for Admin Divisions" (PDF). Taiwan Geographic Names Information Systems. The Ministry of Interior of ROC. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
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