Taiwan Province (台灣省) is an administrative subdivision of the Republic of China (ROC) that includes the most of the Taiwan Island and surrounding islets, and the Pescadores. Even though the province-level municipalities of Taipei City and Kaohsiung City are on the island of Taiwan, they are not administratively part of the Province. Taiwan Province also excludes Kinmen and Lienchiang Counties, which are adminstered as the ROC part of Fujian Province. The capital of Taiwan Province is Chung-hsing-hsin-ts'un.
The term is also used sometimes by persons in the People's Republic of China to refer to Taiwan and depending on the context (if referring to the entire ROC government as "provincial") can provoke a bad reaction by most people from Taiwan.
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2 History 3 List of heads of province 4 External links |
Political divisions
Taiwan Province has sixteen counties and five cities:
Counties
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Note: The cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung are administered directly by the central government and are not part of Taiwan province.
See also: Political divisions of the Republic of China
History
Taiwan Province was established in 1885 by the Qing Empire. Previously, it had been administered as part of Fujian province. In 1895, it was transferred to Japan, and in 1945, the province ceded to the Republic of China.
The first governor of Taiwan Province, Chen Yi, was extremely unpopular and under his administration, there was an uprising known as the 228 incident. Chen was removed in May of 1947 for disloyalty.
When the Kuomintang (KMT) central government fled to Taiwan in 1949, the provincial administration remained in place under the theory that the ROC was still the government of all of China even though it overlapped inefficiently with the national government. Until 1992, the governor of Taiwan province was appointed by the ROC central government, and this office was often a stepping stone to higher office.
In the early 1990s, the status of Taiwan Province was reopened. 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 by a wide margin defeating the DPP candidate Chen Ding-Nan.
In 1997, as the result of an agreement between the KMT and the DPP, the administration of the province was streamlined in curtailed constitutional changes. For example, the post of provincial governor and the provincial assembly were both abolished and replaced with a nine-member special council. Although the stated purpose was administrative efficiency, many believe that it was actually intended to destroy James Soong's power base and eliminate him from political life. In addition, the provincial legislature was abolished while the Legislative Yuan was expanded to include some of the former provincial legislators. In contrast to the past where the head of Taiwan province was considered a major official, the chairperson of Taiwan province after 1999 has been considered a very minor position.
Administrative history
Taiwan Province contains 16 counties, 5 provincial cities and 32 county-controlled cities.
The Executive Yuan's decisions:
Chief executive (行政長官 xingzheng zhangguan):
Chairpersons (省主席 shengzhuxi):
External links