County-administered city

A county-administered city (Chinese: 縣轄市; pinyin: xiànxiáshì; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: koān-hat-chhī)), is a unit of administrative division in Taiwan.[1] Under the administrative structure of Taiwan, it is at the same level as a township or a district. Such cities are under the jurisdiction of counties. It is also the lowest-level city of Taiwan, below a city and a special municipality. There are 14 county-administered cities currently.

  Special municipalities
  Cities
  County-administered cities

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 reorganized into provincial cities based on the Laws on the City Formation (市組織法).

However, the populations of Hualien (Karenkō) and Yilan (Giran) were too low to become a provincial city, but they were of more importance than urban townships. Thus the 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) provided for the creation of county-administered cities along with urban townships and rural townships.

Spelling changes of provincial cities in 1945
County-administered cities formed in 1945 County-administered cities formed in 1951
CharacterJapanese
(before 1945)
Chinese
(after 1945)
CharacterJapanese
(before 1945)
Chinese
(after 1945)
宜蘭GiranYilan 新竹ShinchikuHsinchu
花蓮(港)KarenkōHualien 彰化ShōkaChanghua
嘉義KagiChiayi
屏東HeitōPingtung

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 county-administered cities are based on the law for Taiwan Province, Kinmen and Lienchiang Counties of Fukien Province 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 regulates the creation of a county-administered city, in which a city needs to have a population between 100,000 and 500,000 and occupies major political, economical and cultural roles. 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) county-administered cities, all in Taiwan Province:

Name[2]ChineseHànyǔ
Pīnyīn
Wade–GilesTongyòng
Pinyin
Hokkien
Pe̍h-ōe-jī
Hakka
Pha̍k-fa-sṳ
CountyEstablishment
Changhua彰化市 ZhānghuàChang¹-hua⁴JhanghuàChiong-hòa or
Chiang-hòa
Chông-faChanghua1951-12-01
Douliu斗六市 DǒuliùTou³-liu⁴DǒuliòuTáu-la̍kTéu-liukYunlin1981-12-25
Hualien花蓮市 HuāliánHua¹-lien²HualiánHoa-lian or
Hoa-liân
Fâ-liènHualien1946-01-16
Magong馬公市 MǎgōngMa³-kung¹MǎgongMá-kengMâ-kûngPenghu1981-12-25
Miaoli苗栗市 MiáolìMiao²-li⁴MiáolìBiâu-le̍k or
Miâu-le̍k
Mèu-li̍tMiaoli1981-12-25
Nantou南投市 NántóuNan²-tʻou²NántóuLâm-tâuNàm-thèuNantou1981-12-25
Pingtung屏東市 PíngdōngPʻing²-tung¹PíngdongPîn-tongPhìn-tûngPingtung1951-12-01
Puzi朴子市 PúzǐPʻu²-tzŭ³PúzǐhPhò-chúPhú-chṳ́Chiayi1992-09-10
Taibao太保市 TàibǎoTʻai⁴-pao³TàibǎoThài-póThai-póChiayi1991-07-01
Taitung臺東市 TáidōngTʻai²-tung¹TáidongTâi-tangThòi-tûngTaitung1976-01-01
Toufen頭份市 TóufènTʻou²-fên⁴TóufènThâu-hūnThèu-funMiaoli2015-10-05
Yilan宜蘭市 YílánI²-lan²YílánGî-lânNgì-lànYilan1946-01-16
Yuanlin員林市 YuánlínYüan²-lin²YuánlínOân-lîmYèn-lìmChanghua2015-08-08
Zhubei竹北市 ZhúběiChu²-pei³JhúběiTek-pakChuk-petHsinchu1988-10-31

Each county-administered city has its own local self-government bodies as stipulated in the Local Government Act: a city office (市公所) and a city council (市民代表大會). The mayor (市長) and members of the city council (市民代表) are elected by the residents of the city. A county-administered city is further divided into urban villages ().

Timeline

Below, unless noted otherwise in parenthesis, the newly created cities were towns that exceeded the 150,000 criteria.

DateAdditionRemovalNo.Description
1946-01Hualien
Yilan
2Reorganized from the prefectural cities (州轄市; Zhōuxiá Shì) in the period under Japanese rule.
1950-08-16Chiayi3Downgraded from provincial city (省轄市; Shěngxiá Shì).
1951-12-01Changhua
Hsinchu
Pingtung
6Downgraded from provincial cities (省轄市; Shěngxiá Shì).
1962-04-01Sanchong7The population requirement of county-administered cities is set to 100,000.
Originally urban township (; Zhèn).
1967-07-01[3]Zhongli8Originally urban township (; Zhèn).
1971-04-21Taoyuan9Originally urban township (; Zhèn).
1972-07-01Banqiao
Fengshan
11Originally urban townships (; Zhèn).
1976-01-01Taitung12Originally urban township (; Zhèn).
1976-03-01Fengyuan13Originally urban township (; Zhèn).
1979-01-01Yonghe
Zhonghe
15The population requirement of county-administered cities changed to 150,000.
[Yonghe] Originally urban township (; Zhèn).
[Zhonghe] Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng).
1980-01-15Xindian
Xinzhuang
17Originally urban townships (; Zhèn).
1981-12-25Douliu
Magong
Miaoli
Nantou
Xinying
22All county seats in Taiwan Province were upgraded from urban township ( Zhèn) to county-administered cities.
1982-07-01Chiayi
Hsinchu
20Upgraded to provincial cities (省轄市; Shěngxiá Shì).
1988-10-31Zhubei21Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng), county seat.
1991-07-01Taibao22Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng), county seat.
1992-03-01Pingzhen23Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng).
1992-09-10Puzi24Originally rural township (; Xiāng), county seat.
1993-05-01Yongkang25Originally rural township (; Xiāng).
1993-06-26Tucheng26Originally rural township (; Xiāng).
1993-11-01Dali27Originally rural township (; Xiāng).
1995-01-01Bade28Originally rural township (; Xiāng).
1996-08-01Taiping29Originally rural township (; Xiāng).
1997-10-06Luzhou30Originally rural township (; Xiāng).
1999-07-01Xizhi31Originally urban township (; Zhèn).
1999-10-04Shulin32Originally urban township (; Zhèn).
2010-08-01Yangmei33Originally urban township (; Zhèn).
2010-12-25Banqiao
Dali
Fengshan
Fengyuan
Luzhou
Sanchong
Shulin
Taiping
Tucheng
Xindian
Xinying
Xinzhuang
Xizhi
Yonghe
Yongkang
Zhonghe
17New special municipalities established in Taipei County, Taichung, Tainan, and
Kaohsiung; all county-administered cities in such places were upgraded into districts (; Qū).
2014-06-03Luzhu18Originally rural township (; Xiāng).
2014-12-25Bade
Luzhu
Pingzhen
Taoyuan
Yangmei
Zhongli
12New special municipality established in Taoyuan County; all county-administered cities
in such places were upgraded into districts (; Qū).
2015-08-08Yuanlin13The population requirement of county-administered cities changed to 100,000.
Originally urban township (; Zhèn).
2015-10-05Toufen14Originally urban township (; Zhèn).

Populous Townships

Townships with population more than 90,000, close to the upgrading criterion (as of March 2017)

See also

References

  1. "Local governments". Office of the President Republic of China (Taiwan). Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  2. "Glossary of Names for Admin Divisions" (PDF). Taiwan Geographic Names Information Systems. The Ministry of Interior of ROC. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2014-12-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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