Provincial city (Taiwan)
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of the Republic of China
Provincial cities (Chinese: 市; pinyin: shì; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chhī), sometimes translated provincial municipalities, are cities lesser in rank than special municipalities of the Republic of China (Taiwan). They are governed by provinces directly and are one level above the most basic county-controlled cities.
In the early 20th century, the criteria of being a provincial municipality, as stated in Laws on the City Formation (市組織法) of the Republic of China, included being the provincial capital as well as having a population of over 200,000, or over 100,000 if the city had particular significance in politics, economics, and culture.
After relocating the government to Taiwan, where many cities considered to be insignificant[weasel words] had large populations, the Republic of China government raised the limit to 500,000 in 1981 in the Scheme on the Local Rules in Various Counties and Cities of Taiwan Province (臺灣省各縣市實施地方自治綱要). It was later raised again to 600,000.
Currently, the Local Government Act of the Ministry of the Interior applies for the creation of a provincial city, in which a city needs to have a population between 500,000 and 1,250,000 and occupies major political, economical and cultural roles.
Provincial cities in Taiwan
There are currently three provincial municipalities, administered by the Republic of China:
|Chiayi||嘉義市||Jiāyì||Chia¹-i⁴||Ka-gī||Kâ-ngi||60.03 km²||East District||東區||1982-07-01||Huang Min-hui|
|Hsinchu||新竹市||Xīnzhú||Hsin¹-chu²||Sin-tek||Sîn-tsuk||104.10 km²||North District||北區||1982-07-01||Hsu Ming-tsai|
|Keelung||基隆市||Jīlóng||Chi¹-lung²||Ke-lâng||Kî-lùng||132.76 km²||Zhongzheng District||中正區||1945-10-25||Chang Tong-rong|
|October, 1945||Changhua, Chiayi, Hsinchu,
Kaohsiung, Keelung, Pingtung, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei
|9||Reform from the prefecture-controlled cities in the period under Japanese rule.|
|August 16, 1950||Chiayi||8||merged into Chiayi County and became a county-controlled city|
|December 1, 1951||Changhua, Hsinchu, Pingtung||5||downgraded to county-controlled cities|
|July 1, 1967||Taipei||4||upgraded to a special municipality|
|July 1, 1979||Kaohsiung||3||upgraded to a special municipality|
|July 1, 1982||Chiayi, Hsinchu||5||upgraded from county-controlled cities|
|December 25, 2010||Taichung, Tainan||3||merge with Taichung County and Tainan County, and upgraded to special municipalities|
|Provincial cities in existence: Chiayi, Hsinchu, Keelung (3).|
- the term "provincial cities" is used to refer to prefecture-level cities in the People's Republic of China, see Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China#Prefecture level.