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Taiwan province

Republic of China (ROC) that includes 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 Jhongsing Village.

The term is also used by persons from 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. The PRC state press commonly uses the term "China's Taiwan province" to refer to Taiwan and "the Taiwan authority" to refer to the ROC government. (see political status of Taiwan)

Political divisions

Taiwan Province contains 16 counties, 5 provincial cities and 32 county-controlled cities:

Counties Chiayi Changhua Hsinchu Hualien Kaohsiung Miaoli Nantou Pescadores (Penghu) Pingtung Taichung Tainan Taipei Taitung Taoyuan Yilan Yunlin

Municipalities Chiayi Hsinchu Keelung (Chilung) Taichung Tainan

Note: The cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung are administered directly by the central government and are not part of Taiwan province, though the counties of the same name surrounding these cities are part of the province.

See also: Political divisions of the Republic of China

History

Taiwan Province was established in 1887 by the Qing Empire. Previously, the Qing Empire had administered Taiwan as part of Fujian province - as one prefecture from 1680 to 1875 and two prefectures (north and south from 1875 to 1887.

In 1895, Taiwan and the Pescadores was transferred to Japan. Under Japanese rule, the Province was abolished in favor of Japanese-style divisions. After the islands were ceded to the Republic of China in 1945, the ROC government did not immediately make Taiwan into a province and put it under military occupation under Chief Executive Chen Yi. Chen was extremely unpopular and under his administration, there was an uprising known as the 228 incident. Chen was recalled in May of 1947 and the Taiwan Provincial Government was established.

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 critics argued that 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
The Executive Yuan decisions:

• December 25, 1945:
  • 8 counties of Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Hualien, Taitung, and Penghu
  • 9 provincial cities: Taipei, Keelung, Hsinchu, Taichung, Changhua, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Pintung.
  • 2 county-controlled cities: Hualien and Yilan
• August 16, 1950:
  • 16 counties: all existing ones
  • 8 provincial cities: reduced Chiayi a county-controlled city
• December 1, 1951: 5 provincial cities: reduced Hsinchu, Changhua, and Pintung to county-controlled cities
• 1967: Taipei became the first Taiwanese municipality
• November 11, 1967: All county seats (originally towns) upgraded to county-controlled cities.
• 1979: Kaohsiung became the second Taiwanese municipality
• July 1, 1982: 2 new provincial cities: Hsinchu and Chiayi (approved on April 23, 1981)

List of Governors

Chief Executive (行政長官 xingzheng zhangguan):

1. Chen Yi (Oct 25, 1945 - May 1947)

Temporarily part of the Executive Yuan, the position was legalized in Taiwan Province Administrative Official Public Ministry Organization Statute (臺灣省行政長官公署組織條例) of September 20, 1945.

Chairpersons (省主席 shengzhuxi):

1. Wey Daw-ming (May 16, 1947 - Jan 5, 1949)
2. Chen Tsyr-shiou (Jan 5, 1949 - Dec 21, 1949)
3. Wu Gwo-jen (Dec 21, 1949 - Apr 16, 1953)
4. Yu Horng-jiun (Apr 16, 1953 - Jun 7, 1954)
5. Yen Chia-kan (Jun 7, 1954 - Aug 16, 1957)
6. Chow Chih-jou (Aug 16, 1957 - Dec 1, 1962)
7. Huang Chieh (Dec 1, 1962 - Jul 5, 1969)
8. Shien Ta-ching (Jul 5, 1969 - Jun 6, 1972)
9. Shien Tung-min (Jun 6, 1972 - May 20, 1978)
10. Lin Yang-kang (Jun 12, 1978 - Dec 5, 1981)
11. Lee Teng-hui (Dec 5, 1981 - May 20, 1984)
12. Chiu Chuang-huan (Jun 9, 1984 - Jun 16, 1990)
13. Lien Chan (Jun 16, 1990 - Dec 21,1998)
14. James Soong (Mar 20, 1993 - Dec 20, 1994):

    James Soong (Dec 20, 1994 - Dec 21, 1998, as a governor, 省長 shengzhang). The title "governor" was first legally used in the Self-Governance Law for Provinces and Counties (省縣自治法) of July 29, 1994

15. Chao Shou-po (Dec 21, 1998 - May 20, 2000)
16. Chang Po-ya (May 20, 2000 - Feb 1, 2002)
17. Fan Kuang-chun (Feb 1, 2002 - Oct 14, 2003)
18. Politics of Taiwan