| Special Municipality[I] | |
|---|---|
.svg) Special municipalities are shown in pink | |
| Category | Special municipalities, counties, and cities |
| Location | Free area of the Republic of China |
| Number | 6 |
| Populations | 1,881,204–4,014,560 |
| Areas | 272–2,952 |
| Government |
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| Subdivisions | |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Administrative divisions of Taiwan |
|---|
| Centrally governed |
| Township-level |
| Village-level |
| Neighborhood-level |
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| Historical divisions of Taiwan (1895–1945) Republic of China (1912–49) |
Special municipality[I], historically known asYuan-controlled municipality, is a first-leveladministrative division unit inTaiwan. It is the highest level of the country's administrative structure and is equivalent to a province. After the suspension of the provincial governments of 2018, the special municipalities along withprovincial cities andcounties have all governed directly under thecentral government.[1]
Currently total six cities are designated as special municipalities:Taipei,Taoyuan,New Taipei,Taichung,Tainan, andKaohsiung, all located in the most densely populated regions in the western half of the island.[2] These special municipalities encompass five most populousmetropolitan areas in Taiwan, accounting for more than two-thirds of the national population.
The first municipalities of the ROC were established in 1927 soon after they were designated as "cities" during the 1920s. Nominally,Dairen was a municipality as well, although it wasunder Japanese control. It consisted of the original 11 cities ofNanjing,Shanghai,Beiping (Beijing),Tianjin,Qingdao,Chongqing,Xi'an,Canton,Hankou District (now part ofWuhan),Shenyang, andHarbin. These cities were first calledspecial municipalities/cities (特別市;tèbiéshì), but were later renamedYuan-controlled municipalities (院辖市;院轄市;yuànxiáshì).
Before the end ofWorld War II, theisland of Taiwan (Formosa) was underJapanese rule, with 11 cities established withinits administrative divisions. Following the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Republic of China (ROC) took control of Taiwan, most of pre-1945 cities in Taiwan were reorganized asprovincial cities, butYilan andHualien became the first twocounty-administered cities.
After the loss of the mainland to theChinese Communist Party in 1949, all the special municipalities established inmainland China were lost. The new communist-ledPeople's Republic of China government replaced the Yuan-controlled municipalities withdirect-controlled municipalities. TheKuomintang-ledgovernment of the Republic of China lost theChinese Civil War and relocated toTaipei, Taiwan. By the time of its retreat, no special municipalities was established in Taiwan or other territories under effective control of the ROC government.
In 1967,Taipei City, the first special municipality inTaiwan was created. Taipei served as the capital of the country starting in 1949 and was at the time the most populous city. The scope of the Taipei special municipality includes the original provincial City of Taipei and 4 of its neighboring townships inTaipei County, includingNeihu,Nangang,Muzha andJingmei. In the next year,Shilin andBeitou ofYangmingshan Administrative Bureau (acounty-equivalent administrative division) were also merged into Taipei.
In 1979, the major international port and industrial city in the southwest of the country —Kaohsiung — were also upgraded to a special municipality. Territory of theKaohsiung special municipality includes the original provincial Kaohsiung City andSiaogang Township inKaohsiung County.
At this time, Taiwan was undermartial law. All national and municipal levelelections were suspended. The mayors ofTaipei andKaohsiung were assigned by theExecutive Yuan (central government), not by elections until 1994. For this reason the special municipalities were also called Yuan-controlled municipalities (Chinese:院轄市;pinyin:yuànxiáshì) at this period.
Following thedemocratic reforms in the early 1990s, more thoughts of administrative division reform and reorganization were widely discussed. TheLocal Government Act (地方制度法) was passed by theLegislative Yuan (the Parliament) in 1999. ThisAct regulates the local self-governance bodies and came with some articles to deal with the possible changes of administrative divisions. In theAct also states that cities with population of over 1,250,000 and with significance on political, economic and cultural development may form a special municipality.
The 2007 amendment ofLocal Government Act states that acounty orcity with population over two million may grant some extra privileges in local autonomy that was designed for special municipalities. This type of counties are often called quasi-municipalities (準直轄市).Taipei County was the first division within this case. In 2009, another amendment ofLocal Government Act gave councils ofcounties andcities the right to file petitions to reform themselves into special municipalities. Four proposals were approved by theExecutive Yuan in 2009
The four newly created special municipalities were formally established on December 25, 2010 with the inauguration of the new mayors.
In June 2010, the population ofTaoyuan County also grew over 2 million and were qualified for being a quasi-municipality since 2011. The county government also sent a proposal to become a special municipality in 2012.Executive Yuan approved the proposal and the special municipality ofTaoyuan were formally established on December 25, 2014.
Currently, there are in total six special municipalities under thecentral government. The special municipalities cover the top five most populousmetropolitan areas in Taiwan and over two thirds (2/3) of the national population.
There are currently six special municipalities:
| Name | Population | Area (km2) | Administrative centre | Date of establishment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Taipei[II] | 2,688,140 | 271.7997 | Xinyi District[III] | 1967-07-01 |
 Taoyuan[IV] | 2,092,977 | 1,220.9540 | Taoyuan District[V] | 2014-12-25 |
 Kaohsiung[VI] | 2,779,790 | 2,946.2527 | Lingya District[VII],Fengshan District[VIII] | 1979-07-01 |
 New Taipei[IX] | 3,955,777 | 2,052.5667 | Banqiao District[X] | 2010-12-25 |
 Taichung[XI] | 2,702,920 | 2,214.8968 | Xitun District[XII],Fengyuan District[XIII] | 2010-12-25 |
 Tainan[XIV] | 1,883,251 | 2,191.6531 | Anping District[XV],Xinying District[XVI] | 2010-12-25 |
Their self-governed bodies (executive and legislature) regulated by theLocal Government Act are:
In Taiwanese municipalities, the mayor is the highest-ranking official in charge. The mayor is directly elected by the people registered in the municipality for a duration of four years.
InHsinchu City andHsinchu County, it was proposed in September 2021 that both are to be upgraded to the nation's newest special municipality. Similarly,Changhua County andChanghua City have been expressed interest to become its special municipality that October.[3][4] TheTsai Ing-wen administration had approved the proposal to merge Hsinchu county and city in December 2021 but rejected Changhua due to the county's decline of population below the 1.25 million required by Article 4 of the Local Government Act for a region to be eligible for an upgrade.[5][6]