A county-administered city is a third-level

administrative division Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

in the

Republic of China (Taiwan) Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

below a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

, which in turn is below of a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

. Under the administrative structure of the ROC, it is at the same level as a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

or a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

. Such cities are under the jurisdiction of

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

. It is also the lowest-level city in Taiwan, below a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and a special municipality. There are 14 county-administered cities currently under ROC control.

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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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'' (). 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'' () provided for the creation of county-administered cities along with urban townships and rural townships. In 1951, a large scale administrative division reorganization took place in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. The size of

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 Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), only east from the city of Xiamen in Fujian, located at the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China, from wh ...

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

Timeline

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

Populous Townships

Townships with population more than 90,000, close to the upgrading criterion (as of March 2017) * Caotun (草屯鎮; 98,330) * Zhudong (竹東鎮; 96,877) * Hemei (和美鎮; 91,159)

History

Current county-administered cities

Timeline

Populous Townships

See also

Notes

Words in native languages

References

External links