County-administered city
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A county-administered city (Chinese: 縣轄市; pinyin: xiànxiáshì; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: koān-hat-chhī)), is a unit of administrative division in Taiwan. Under the administrative structure of Taiwan, it is with the same level of a township or a district. Such cities are administrated by counties. It is also the lowest-level city of Taiwan, below a provincial city and a special municipality. There are 14 county-administered cities currently.
History
The first administrative divisions entitled "city" were established in the 1920s when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. At this time cities were under the jurisdiction of prefectures. After the World War II, nine (9) out of eleven (11) prefectural cities established by the Japanese government were reform into provincial cities. The reform was based on the Laws on the City Formation (市組織法) of the Republic of China.
In this reform, the populations of Hualien (Karenkō) and Yilan (Giran) were too low to became a provincial city, but they are also much more important than other urban townships. Thus the special administrative division type is created in Scheme on the Local Rules in Various Counties and Cities of Taiwan Province (臺灣省各縣市實施地方自治綱要). In this time, a county is divided into county-administered cities and county-administered townships. A county-administered township is divided into urban townships and urban townships. The level of a county-administered city is higher than a township.
| County-administered cities formed in 1945 | County-administered cities formed in 1951 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Character | Japanese (before 1945) |
Chinese (after 1945) |
Character | Japanese (before 1945) |
Chinese (after 1945) | |
| 宜蘭 | Giran | Yilan | 新竹 | Shinchiku | Hsinchu | |
| 花蓮(港) | Karenkō | Hualien | 彰化 | Shōka | Changhua | |
| 嘉義 | Kagi | Chiayi | ||||
| 屏東 | Heitō | Pingtung | ||||
In 1951, a large scale administrative division reorganization took place in Taiwan. The size of counties shrink and the county-administered districts were abolished. This puts county-administered cities and townships into the same level in the hierarchy. Four provincial cities were also downgraded to county-administered cities after this reorganization. Since the county-administered cities are based on the law for Taiwan Province, Kinmen County and Lienchiang County under Fukien do not have any city under their jurisdiction.
The population criterion was originally 50,000 in the 1940s, but was raised to 100,000 in 1959, again in 1977 to 150,000, and in 2015 it was lower back to 100,000. Under the current. Currently, the Local Government Act of the Ministry of the Interior applies for the creation of a provincial city, in which a city needs to have a population between 100,000 and 500,000 and occupies major political, economical and cultural roles.[1] Note that not all existing county-administered cities are qualified for the population test, they were built for historical reasons.
Current county-administered cities
There are currently fourteen(14) provincial cities:
| Name[2] | Chinese | Pinyin[2] | Wade–Giles | Tongyong | Pe̍h-ōe-jī | Pha̍k-fa-sṳ | County | Establishment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Changhua | 彰化市 | Zhānghuà | Chang¹-hua⁴ | Jhanghuà | Chiong-hòa | Chông-fa | Changhua | 1951-12-01 |
| Douliu | 斗六市 | Dǒuliù | Tou³-liu⁴ | Dǒuliòu | Táu-la̍k | Téu-liuk | Yunlin | 1981-12-25 |
| Hualien | 花蓮市 | Huālián | Hua¹-lien² | Hualián | Hoa-liân | Fâ-lièn | Hualien | 1946-01-16 |
| Magong | 馬公市 | Mǎgōng | Ma³-kung¹ | Mǎgong | Má-keng | Mâ-kûng | Penghu | 1981-12-25 |
| Miaoli | 苗栗市 | Miáolì | Miao²-li⁴ | Miáolì | Biâu-le̍k | Mèu-li̍t | Miaoli | 1981-12-25 |
| Nantou | 南投市 | Nántóu | Nan²-t'ou² | Nántóu | Lâm-tâu | Nàm-thèu | Nantou | 1981-12-25 |
| Pingtung | 屏東市 | Píngdōng | P'ing²-tung¹ | Píngdong | Pîn-tong | Phìn-tûng | Pingtung | 1951-12-01 |
| Puzi | 朴子市 | Pūzǐ | P'u¹-tzu³ | Puzǐh | Phò-chú | Phú-chṳ́ | Chiayi | 1992-09-10 |
| Taibao | 太保市 | Tàibǎo | T'ai⁴-pao³ | Tàibǎo | Thài-pó | Thai-pó | Chiayi | 1991-07-01 |
| Taitung | 臺東市 | Táidōng | T'ai²-tung¹ | Táidong | Tâi-tang | Thòi-tûng | Taitung | 1976-01-01 |
| Toufen | 頭份市 | Tóufèn | T'ou²-fên⁴ | Tóufèn | Thâu-hūn | Thèu-fun | Miaoli | 2015-10-05 |
| Yilan | 宜蘭市 | Yílán | I²-lan² | Yílán | Gî-lân | Ngì-làn | Yilan | 1946-01-16 |
| Yuanlin | 員林市 | Yuánlín | Yüan²-lin² | Yuánlín | Oân-lîm | Yèn-lìm | Changhua | 2015-08-08 |
| Zhubei | 竹北市 | Zhúběi | Chu²-pei³ | Jhúběi | Tek-pak | Tsuk-pet | Hsinchu | 1988-10-31 |
Each county-administered cities has its own self-governed bodies. The self-governed bodies (executive and legislature) regulated by the Local Government Act are: A City Office (市公所) and a City Council (市民代表大會). The mayor (市長) and city representatives (市民代表) shall be directly elected by the people reside in the city territory. A county-administered city are further divided into urban villages (里).
Timeline
Below, unless noted otherwise in parenthesis, the newly created cities were towns that exceeded the 150,000 criteria.
| Date | Addition | Removal | No. | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946-01 | Hualien Yilan |
2 | Reorganized from the prefectural cities (州轄市; Zhōuxiá Shì) in the period under Japanese rule. | |
| 1950-08-16 | Chiayi | 3 | Downgraded from provincial city (省轄市; Shěngxiá Shì). | |
| 1951-12-01 | Changhua Hsinchu Pingtung |
6 | Downgraded from provincial cities (省轄市; Shěngxiá Shì). | |
| 1962-04-01 | Sanchong | 7 | The population requirement of county-administered cities is set to 100,000. Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). | |
| 1967-07-01[3] | Zhongli | 8 | Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). | |
| 1971-04-21[4] | Taoyuan | 9 | Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). | |
| 1972-07-01 | Banqiao Fengshan |
11 | Originally urban townships (鎮; Zhèn). | |
| 1976-01-01 | Taitung | 12 | Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). | |
| 1976-03-01 | Fengyuan | 13 | Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). | |
| 1979-01-01 | Yonghe Zhonghe |
15 | The population requirement of county-administered cities changed to 150,000. [Yonghe] Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). [Zhonghe] Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng). | |
| 1980-01-15 | Xindian Xinzhuang |
17 | Originally urban townships (鎮; Zhèn). | |
| 1981-12-25 | Douliu Magong Miaoli Nantou Xinying |
22 | All county seats in Taiwan Province were upgraded from urban township (鎮 Zhèn) to county-administered cities. | |
| 1982-07-01 | Chiayi Hsinchu |
20 | Upgraded to provincial cities (省轄市; Shěngxiá Shì). | |
| 1988-10-31 | Zhubei | 21 | Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng), county seat. | |
| 1991-07-01 | Taibao | 22 | Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng), county seat. | |
| 1992-03-01 | Pingzhen | 23 | Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng). | |
| 1992-09-10 | Puzi | 24 | Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng), county seat. | |
| 1993-05-01 | Yongkang | 25 | Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng). | |
| 1993-06-26 | Tucheng | 26 | Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng). | |
| 1993-11-01 | Dali | 27 | Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng). | |
| 1995-01-01 | Bade | 28 | Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng). | |
| 1996-08-01 | Taiping | 29 | Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng). | |
| 1997-10-06 | Luzhou | 30 | Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng). | |
| 1999-07-01 | Xizhi | 31 | Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). | |
| 1999-10-04 | Shulin | 32 | Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). | |
| 2010-08-01 | Yangmei | 33 | Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). | |
| 2010-12-25 | Banqiao Dali Fengshan Fengyuan Luzhou Sanchong Shulin Taiping Tucheng Xindian Xinying Xinzhuang Xizhi Yonghe Yongkang Zhonghe |
17 | New special municipalities established in Taipei County, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung; all county-administered cities in such places were upgraded into districts (區; Qū). | |
| 2014-06-03 | Luzhu | 18 | Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng). | |
| 2014-12-25 | Bade Luzhu Pingzhen Taoyuan Yangmei Zhongli |
12 | New special municipality established in Taoyuan County; all county-administered cities in such places were upgraded into districts (區; Qū). | |
| 2015-08-08 | Yuanlin | 13 | The population requirement of county-administered cities changed to 100,000. Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). | |
| 2015-10-05 | Toufen | 14 | Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). |
Populous Townships
Townships with population more than 90,000, close to the upgrading criterion (as of March 2017)
See also
- Administrative divisions of Taiwan
- Political divisions of Taiwan (1895–1945)
- Cities of Japan
- County (Taiwan)
- Township (Taiwan)
References
- ^ http://www.moi.gov.tw/english/english_law/law_detail.aspx?sn=284
- ^ a b "Glossary of Names for Admin Divisions" (PDF). Taiwan Geographic Names Information Systems. The Ministry of Interior of ROC. Retrieved 6 June 2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2014-12-28.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ 桃園區公所 (19 March 2015). "The Peach Blossom Garden in the Olden Days-桃園區公所". www.taocity.gov.tw. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
