Taiwan Province

In 1683, Zheng Keshuang (third ruler of the Kingdom of Tungning and a grandson of Koxinga), surrendered to the Qing Empire following a naval engagement with Admiral Shi Lang. The Qing then ruled the Taiwanese archipelago (including Penghu) as Taiwan Prefecture of Fujian Province. In 1875, Taipeh Prefecture was separated from Taiwan Prefecture. In 1885, work commenced under the auspices of Liu Ming-chuan to develop Taiwan into a province. In 1887, the island was designated as a province (officially Fokien-Taiwan Province), with Liu as the first governor.[3] The province was also reorganized into four prefectures, eleven districts, and three sub-prefectures.[4][5] The provincial capital, or "Taiwan-fu", was intended to be moved from the south (modern-day Tainan) to the more central area of Toatun (modern-day Taichung) in the revamped Taiwan Prefecture.[6] As the new central Taiwan-fu was still under construction, the capital was temporarily moved north to Taipeh (modern-day Taipei), which eventually was designated the provincial capital.

In 1895, the entire Taiwan Province, including Penghu, was ceded to Japan following the First Sino-Japanese War through the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Under Japanese rule, the province was abolished in favour of Japanese-style divisions. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, the Taiwan was handed over to the Republic of China (ROC).

Map of Taiwan Province, ROC (1945-1949)

Prior to January 1, 2007 all vehicles registered in Taiwan Province carried the label "Taiwan Province" (台灣省) on their license plates.

The ROC government immediately established the Taiwan Provincial Government under first Chief Executive and government-general Chen Yi in September 1945.[8][9] Chen was extremely unpopular and his rule led to an uprising – the February 28 Incident of 1947. Chen was recalled in May 1947 and the government-general position was abolished.

When the Republic of China government was relocated to Taipei in 1949 as a result of the Kuomintang's (KMT) defeat by the Communist Party of China forces in the Chinese Civil War, the provincial administration remained in place under the claim that the ROC was still the government of all of China even though the opposition argued that it overlapped inefficiently with the national government.

The seat of the provincial government was moved from Taipei to Zhongxing New Village in 1956. Historically, Taiwan Province covers the entire island of Taiwan and all its associated islands. The city of Taipei was split off to become a province-level special municipality in 1967, and the city of Kaohsiung was split off in 1979 to become another special municipality. In December 2010, Kaohsiung County left the province and merged with the original Kaohsiung City to become an expanded Kaohsiung City, Taipei County became the special municipality named New Taipei City. The cities and counties of Taichung and Tainan were also merged, respectively, and elevated to special municipality. On 25 December 2014, Taoyuan County was upgraded into a special municipality and split off from Taiwan Province.

Until 1992, the governor of Taiwan province was appointed by the ROC central government. The office was often a stepping stone to higher office.

In 1992, the post of the governor of the province was opened to election. The then-opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) agreed to retain the province with an elected governor in the hopes of creating a "Yeltsin effect" in which a popular local leader could overwhelm the national government. These hopes proved unfulfilled as then-Kuomintang member James Soong was elected governor of Taiwan province, defeating the DPP candidate Chen Ding-nan.

In 1997, as the result of an agreement between the KMT and the DPP, the powers of the provincial government were curtailed by constitutional amendments. The post of provincial governor was abolished. In addition, the provincial council was also replaced by the Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council. Although the stated purpose was administrative efficiency, Soong and his supporters claim that it was actually intended to impede James Soong's political life, though it did not have this effect.

The provincial administration was downscaled in 1998, most of its power handed to the central government. The counties and provincial cities under the province became the primary administrative divisions of the country.

In October 1945, The government of the Republic of China reformed the eight(8) Japanese prefectures under the Government-General of Taiwan into 8 counties and 9 cities.

Taiwan Province is nominally divided into 11 counties   and 3 cities  . All divisions are directly administered by the central government in practice.

Map	No.	Name		Mandarin (Pinyin)	Taiwanese (Pe̍h-ōe-jī)	Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14	1	Changhua County	彰化縣	Zhānghuà xiàn	Chiong-hoà koān	Chông-fa yen
	2	Chiayi City	嘉義市	Jiāyì shì	Ka-gī chhī	Kâ-ngi sṳ
	3	Chiayi County	嘉義縣	Jiāyì xiàn	Ka-gī koān	Kâ-ngi yen
	4	Hsinchu City	新竹市	Xīnzhú shì	Sin-tek chhī	Sîn-tsuk sṳ
	5	Hsinchu County	新竹縣	Xīnzhú xiàn	Sin-tek koān	Sîn-tsuk yen
	6	Hualien County	花蓮縣	Huālián xiàn	Hoa-liân koān	Fâ-lièn yen
	7	Keelung City	基隆市	Jīlóng shì	Ke-lâng chhī	Kî-lùng sṳ
	8	Miaoli County	苗栗縣	Miáolì xiàn	Biâu-le̍k koān	Mèu-li̍t yen
	9	Nantou County	南投縣	Nántóu xiàn	Lâm-tâu koān	Nàm-thèu yen
	10	Penghu County	澎湖縣	Pénghú xiàn	Phêⁿ-ô͘ koān	Phàng-fù yen
	11	Pingtung County	屏東縣	Píngdōng xiàn	Pîn-tong koān	Phìn-tûng yen
	12	Taitung County	臺東縣	Táidōng xiàn	Tâi-tang koān	Thòi-tûng yen
	13	Yilan County	宜蘭縣	Yílán xiàn	Gî-lân koān	Ngì-làn yen
	14	Yunlin County	雲林縣	Yúnlín xiàn	Hûn-lîm koān	Yùn-lìm yen

Note that the special municipalities of Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei and Taoyuan are both nominally under and directly administered by the central government. They are not part of any province.