County-controlled city

A county-controlled city, or county-administered city, (Chinese: 縣轄市; pinyin: xiànxiáshì) is a third level administrative division of Taiwan. On the same level as a Taiwanese township, it is the lowest-level city of Taiwan, below provincial city and special municipality. There are 14 county-controlled cities currently. A county-controlled city has urban villages (里) directly under it.

The two criteria of gaining county-administered city status:

• population between 100,000 and 500,000^[1] (except county seats in Taiwan Province)
• advanced industry and commerce, sufficient funds, and advanced infrastructure

The population criterion was originally 50,000 in the 1940s, but was raised to 100,000 in 1959, again in 1977 to 150,000, and in 2015 it was lower back to 100,000.

At first, in late January 1946, there were only two county-controlled cities: Hualien and Yilan, which were both prefecture-controlled cities (州轄市) under Japanese Rule. (The ROC government did not create such cities on the Mainland before they relocated to Taiwan.) Currently Changhua County and Chiayi County have the most county-controlled cities with two each. For current county-controlled cities, see the table below:

County-administered cities in Taiwan

Romanization[2]	Chinese	Pinyin[2]	Wade–Giles	Tongyong Pinyin	Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Pha̍k-fa-sṳ	County	Establishment
Changhua	彰化市	Zhānghuà Shì	Chang¹-hua⁴	Jhanghuà	Chiong-hòa	Chông-fa	Changhua	1951-12-01
Douliu	斗六市	Dǒuliù Shì	Tou³-liu⁴	Dǒuliòu	Táu-la̍k	Téu-liuk	Yunlin	1981-12-25
Hualien	花蓮市	Huālián Shì	Hua¹-lien²	Hualián	Hoa-liân	Fâ-lièn	Hualien	1946-01-16
Magong	馬公市	Mǎgōng Shì	Ma³-kung¹	Mǎgong	Má-keng	Mâ-kûng	Penghu	1981-12-25
Miaoli	苗栗市	Miáolì Shì	Miao²-li⁴	Miáolì	Biâu-le̍k	Mèu-li̍t	Miaoli	1981-12-25
Nantou	南投市	Nántóu Shì	Nan²-t'ou²	Nántóu	Lâm-tâu	Nàm-thèu	Nantou	1981-12-25
Pingtung	屏東市	Píngdōng Shì	P'ing²-tung¹	Píngdong	Pîn-tong	Phìn-tûng	Pingtung	1951-12-01
Puzi	朴子市	Pūzǐ Shì	P'u¹-tzu³	Puzǐh	Phò-chú	Phú-chṳ́	Chiayi	1992-09-10
Taibao	太保市	Tàibǎo Shì	T'ai⁴-pao³	Tàibǎo	Thài-pó	Thai-pó	Chiayi	1991-07-01
Taitung	臺東市	Táidōng Shì	T'ai²-tung¹	Táidong	Tâi-tang	Thòi-tûng	Taitung	1976-01-01
Toufen	頭份市	Tóufèn Shì	T'ou²-fên⁴	Tóufèn	Thâu-hūn	Thèu-fun	Miaoli	2015-10-05
Yilan	宜蘭市	Yílán Shì	I²-lan²	Yílán	Gî-lân	Ngì-làn	Yilan	1946-01-16
Yuanlin	員林市	Yuánlín Shì	Yüan²-lin²	Yuánlín	Oân-lîm	Yèn-lìm	Changhua	2015-08-08
Zhubei	竹北市	Zhúběi Shì	Chu²-pei³	Jhúběi	Tek-pak	Tsuk-pet	Hsinchu	1988-10-31

Townships with more 90,000

• Caotun (草屯鎮; 98,652)
• Zhudong (竹東鎮; 96,831)
• Hemei (和美鎮; 91,250)

Timeline

Below, unless noted otherwise in parenthesis, the newly created cities were towns that exceeded the 150,000 criteria.

Date	Addition	Removal	No.	Description
January, 1946	Hualien Yilan		2	Reform from the prefectural cities (州轄市; Zhōuxiá Shì) in the period under Japanese rule.
August 16, 1950	Chiayi		3	Downgraded from provincial city (省轄市; Shěngxiá Shì).
December 1, 1951	Changhua Hsinchu Pingtung		6	Downgraded from provincial cities (省轄市; Shěngxiá Shì).
April 1, 1962	Sanchong		7	The population requirement of county-controlled cities is set to 100,000. Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn).
July 1, 1967[3]	Zhongli		8	Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn).
April 21, 1971[4]	Taoyuan		9	Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn).
July 1, 1972	Banqiao Fengshan		11	Originally urban townships (鎮; Zhèn).
January 1, 1976	Taitung		12	Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn).
March 1, 1976	Fengyuan		13	Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn).
January 1, 1979	Yonghe Zhonghe		15	The population requirement of county-controlled cities changed to 150,000. [Yonghe] Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn). [Zhonghe] Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng).
January 15, 1980	Xindian Xinzhuang		17	Originally urban townships (鎮; Zhèn).
December 25, 1981	Douliu Magong Miaoli Nantou Xinying		22	All county seats in Taiwan Province were upgraded from urban township (鎮 Zhèn) to county-controlled cities.
July 1, 1982		Chiayi Hsinchu	20	Upgraded to provincial cities (省轄市; Shěngxiá Shì).
October 31, 1988	Zhubei		21	Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng), county seat.
July 1, 1991	Taibao		22	Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng), county seat.
March 1, 1992	Pingzhen		23	Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng).
September 10, 1992	Puzi		24	Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng), county seat.
May 1, 1993	Yongkang		25	Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng).
June 26, 1993	Tucheng		26	Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng).
November 1, 1993	Dali		27	Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng).
January 1, 1995	Bade		28	Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng).
August 1, 1996	Taiping		29	Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng).
October 6, 1997	Luzhou		30	Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng).
July 1, 1999	Xizhi		31	Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn).
October 4, 1999	Shulin		32	Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn).
August 1, 2010	Yangmei		33	Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn).
December 25, 2010		Banqiao Dali Fengshan Fengyuan Luzhou Sanchong Shulin Taiping Tucheng Xindian Xinying Xinzhuang Xizhi Yonghe Yongkang Zhonghe	17	New special municipalities established in Taipei County, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung; all county-controlled cities in such places were upgraded into districts (區; Qū).
June 3, 2014	Luzhu		18	Originally rural township (鄉; Xiāng).
December 25, 2014		Bade Luzhu Pingzhen Taoyuan Yangmei Zhongli	12	New special municipality established in Taoyuan County; all county-controlled cities in such places were upgraded into districts (區; Qū).
August 8, 2015	Yuanlin		13	The population requirement of county-controlled cities changed to 100,000. Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn).
October 5, 2015	Toufen		14	Originally urban township (鎮; Zhèn).

Lienchiang and Kinmen County do not have any city.

See also

• Administrative divisions of the Republic of China

References

1. http://www.moi.gov.tw/english/english_law/law_detail.aspx?sn=284
2. "Glossary of Names for Admin Divisions" (PDF). Taiwan Geographic Names Information Systems. The Ministry of Interior of ROC. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
3. http://163.29.191.47/en2013/intro/dept2/List.asp
4. http://www.taocity.gov.tw/en/about.aspx