Taiwan Province
Taiwan
臺灣省 | |
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Province | |
| Name transcription(s) | |
| • Chinese | 臺灣省 (Táiwān Shěng) |
| • Abbreviation | TW / 臺 (pinyin: Tái; Hokkien: Tâi; Hakka: Thòi) |
| • Hokkien POJ | Tâi-oân-séng |
| • Hakka PFS | Thòi-vàn-sén or Thòi-vân-sén |
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Flag Seal | |
Map depicting subdivisions nominally part of the province (red) | |
| Coordinates: 23°48′N 121°00′E / 23.8°N 121.0°E | |
| Country | Republic of China |
| Established from Fujian | 1887 |
| Annexed by Japan | 17 April 1895 |
| Placed under the control of the ROC | 25 October 1945 |
| Streamlined | 21 December 1998 |
| Governmental functions removed | 1 July 2018[1] |
| Provincial capital | Zhongxing New Village (1956-2018) Taipei (1945–1956) |
| Largest city | Hsinchu |
| Divisions | 11 counties, 3 cities |
| Government | |
| • Type | Province (nominal) |
| • Body | National Development Council[a] |
| Area | |
• Total | 25,110.0037 km2 (9,695.0266 sq mi) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 7,060,473 |
| • Density | 280/km2 (730/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Taiwanese |
| Time zone | UTC+08:00 (NST) |
| Taiwan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Taiwan" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 臺灣 or 台灣 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 台湾 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Postal | Taiwan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Abbreviation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 臺 or 台 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 台 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Taiwan Province | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 臺灣省 or 台灣省 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 台湾省 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Taiwan Province (Chinese: 臺灣省; pinyin: Táiwān Shěng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân-séng; PFS: Thòi-vàn-sén or Thòi-vân-sén) is a de jure administrative division of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Provinces remain a titular division as a part of the Constitution of the Republic of China, but are no longer considered to have any administrative function practically.[2][3]
Taiwan Province covers approximately 69% of the island of Taiwan, and comprises around 31% of the total population. The province initially covered the entire island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu (the Pescadores), Orchid Island, Green Island, Xiaoliuqiu Island, and their surrounding islands. Between 1967 and 2014, six special municipalities (Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei and Taoyuan) were split off from the province, all in the most populous regions.
Taiwan was initially made a prefecture of Fujian Province by the Qing dynasty of China after its conquest of the Kingdom of Tungning in 1683. Following the French offensive in northern Taiwan during the Sino-French War, the island's strategic position in maritime security and defence was re-evaluated and given prominence by the Qing.[4] Under the auspices of Liu Ming-chuan, a plan was commenced to develop Taiwan into a stand-alone division. In 1887, Taiwan was designated as a distinct province (namely "Fujian-Taiwan Province"; Chinese: 福建臺灣省), with Liu as the first governor, but the island was then ceded to the Empire of Japan in 1895, following China's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. After the surrender of Japan in World War II, the province was re-established on Taiwan by the Kuomintang (KMT) government in September 1945, and it became the last stronghold of the KMT government after their defeat in the Chinese Civil War. The provincial capital of Taipei has correspondingly become the provisional capital of the central government since 1949.
During the constitutional reform initiated in 1996, the Taiwanese government decided to downsize the provincial structure to streamline overlapping personnel and administrative resources between the provincial and central governments, and cut excessive public spending.[5] The provinces ceased to be self-governing bodies in December 1998, with their administrative functions transferred to the Executive Yuan's subsidiary National Development Council, as well as second-tier local governments such as counties. In July 2018, all provincial governmental organs were formally abolished, with their budget and personnel removed.[3][6]
- ^ 賴清德拍板！省政府7月1日解散、省級機關預算將歸零. ettoday.net (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 28 June 2018.
- ^ "Local governments". Office of the President Republic of China (Taiwan). Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ a b Sarah Shair-Rosenfield (November 2020). "Taiwan combined" (PDF). The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ Davidson, James W. (1903). The Island of Formosa, Past and Present: History, People, Resources, and Commercial Prospects: Tea, Camphor, Sugar, Gold, Coal, Sulphur, Economical Plants, and Other Productions. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. OL 6931635M.
- ^ Bi-yu Chang (24 March 2015), "The rise and fall of Sanminzhuyi Utopia", Place, Identity, and National Imagination in Post-war Taiwan, Routledge, pp. 136–138, ISBN 9781317658122.
- ^ Sherry Hsiao (29 June 2018). "Provincial-level agencies to be defunded next year". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
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