Taiwan was under Japanese rule after the First Sino-Japanese War, as per the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895. There were still several changes until the Japanese political system was adopted in 1920. This system was de facto abolished in 1945 and de jure in 1952.
Introduction
Administrative divisions of Taiwan by types and times. Like the administrative divisions in mainland Japan, most of them are translated to "prefectures" in English.
{|class=wikitable
|+Number of divisions
!Start date!!End date!!Timespan!!Summary
|-
|May 1895||Aug 1895||align=center|3||3 Ken, 1 Chō
|-
|Aug 1895||Mar 1896||align=center|7||1 Ken, 2 Minseishibu, 1 Chō
|-
|Apr 1896||Jun 1897||align=center|15||3 Ken, 1 Chō
|-
|Jun 1897||Jun 1898||align=center|12||6 Ken, 3 Chō
|-
|Jun 1898||Apr 1901||align=center|34||3 Ken, 3 Chō
|-
|May 1901||Nov 1901||align=center|7||3 Ken, 4 Chō
|-
|Nov 1901||Oct 1909||align=center|95||20 Chō
|-
|Oct 1909||Aug 1920||align=center|130||12 Chō
|-
|Sep 1920||Jun 1926||align=center|70||5 Shū, 2 Chō
|-
|Jul 1926||Apr 1952||align=center|239||5 Shū, 3 Chō
|}
{|class=wikitable
|+Types of the divisions
!Name!!Kanji!!Kana
|-
|Ken||align=center|||
|-
|Shū||align=center|||
|-
|Chō||align=center|||
|-
|Minseishibu||align=center|||
|}
Early years (1895–1901)
The political divisions changed frequently between 1895 and 1901.
{|class=wikitable
!Date!!colspan=3|May. 1895 – Aug. 1895!!rowspan=6| !!colspan=3|Aug. 1895 – Mar. 1896!!rowspan=6| !!colspan=3|Mar. 1896 – Jun. 1897
|-
!rowspan=4|Names
|Taihoku Ken||||||Taihoku Ken||||たいほくけん||Taihoku Ken||||たいほくけん
|-
|Taiwan Ken||||||Taiwan Minseishibu||||たいわんみんせいしぶ||Taichū Ken||||たいちゅうけん
|-
|Tainan Ken||||たいなんけん||Tainan Minseishibu||||たいなんみんせいしぶ||Tainan Ken||||たいなんけん
|-
|Hōkotō Chō||||ほうことうちょう||Hōkotō Chō||||ほうことうちょう||Hōkotō Chō||||ほうことうちょう
|-align=center
!Div. No.!!colspan=3|3 Ken, 1 Chō!!colspan=3|1 Ken, 2 Minseishibu, 1 Chō!!colspan=3|3 Ken, 1 Chō
|}
{|class=wikitable
!Date!!colspan=3|Jun. 1897 – Jun. 1898!!rowspan=11| !!colspan=3|Jun. 1898 – Apr. 1901!!rowspan=11| !!colspan=3|May. 1901 – Nov. 1901
|-
!rowspan=9|Names
|Taihoku Ken||||たいほくけん||rowspan=2|Taihoku Ken||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|たいほくけん||rowspan=2|Taihoku Ken||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|たいほくけん
|-
|Shinchiku Ken||||しんちくけん
|-
|Taichū Ken||||たいちゅうけん||rowspan=2|Taichū Ken||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|たいちゅうけん||rowspan=2|Taichū Ken||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|たいちゅうけん
|-
|Kagi Ken||||かぎけん
|-
|Tainan Ken||||たいなんけん||rowspan=2|Tainan Ken||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|たいなんけん||Tainan Ken||||たいなんけん
|-
|Hōzan Ken||||ほうざんけん||Kōshun Chō||||こうしゅんちょう
|-
|Giran Chō||||ぎらんちょう||Giran Chō||||ぎらんちょう||Giran Chō||||ぎらんちょう
|-
|Taitō Chō||||たいとうちょう||Taitō Chō||||たいとうちょう||Taitō Chō||||たいとうちょう
|-
|Hōko Chō||||ほうこちょう||Hōko Chō||||ほうこちょう||Hōko Chō||||ほうこちょう
|-align=center
!Div. No.!!colspan=3|6 Ken, 3 Chō!!colspan=3|3 Ken, 3 Chō!!colspan=3|3 Ken, 4 Chō
|}
Chō (1901–1920)
The former system was abolished 11 November 1901, and twenty local administrative offices (chō) were established. Usage of Ken divisions was discontinued.
Structural hierarchy
thumb|350px|Administrative divisions of Taiwan in 1901. The red line marks the approximate boundary separating Aboriginal areas and territories under actual Japanese administration.
{|class=wikitable
!width=100|Level 1!!width=100|Level 2!!width=100|Level 3!!Level 4
|-align=center
|rowspan=2|Prefecture<br> chō||rowspan=2|Subprefecture<br> shichō
|rowspan=2|District<br> ku||Town<br> gai
|-align=center
|Village<br> jō
|}
Prefectures
{|class=wikitable
!colspan=3|Nov. 1901 – Oct. 1909!!rowspan=27| !!colspan=3|Oct. 1909 – Aug. 1920
|-
|Taihoku Chō||||たいほくちょう||rowspan=3|Taihoku Chō||rowspan=3|||rowspan=3|たいほくちょう
|-
|Kīrun Chō||||きいるんちょう
|-
|rowspan=2|Shinkō Chō||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|しんこうちょう
|-
|rowspan=2|Giran Chō||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|ぎらんちょう
|-
|Giran Chō||||ぎらんちょう
|-
|Tōshien Chō||||とうしえんちょう||Tōen Chō||||とうえんちょう
|-
|Shinchiku Chō||||しんちくちょう||rowspan=2|Shinchiku Chō||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|しんちくちょう
|-
|rowspan=2|Byōritsu Chō||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|びょうりつちょう
|-
|rowspan=3|Taichū Chō||rowspan=3|||rowspan=3|たいちゅうちょう
|-
|Taichū Chō||||たいちゅうちょう
|-
|Shōka Chō||||しょうかちょう
|-
|Nantō Chō||||なんとうちょう||rowspan=2|Nantō Chō||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|なんとうちょう
|-
|rowspan=2|Toroku Chō||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|とろくちょう
|-
|rowspan=3|Kagi Chō||rowspan=3|||rowspan=3|かぎちょう
|-
|Kagi Chō||||かぎちょう
|-
|rowspan=2|Ensuikō Chō||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|えんすいこうちょう
|-
|rowspan=3|Tainan Chō||rowspan=3|||rowspan=3|たいなんちょう
|-
|Tainan Chō||||たいなんちょう
|-
|Hōzan Chō||||ほうざんちょう
|-
|Banshoryō Chō||||ばんしょりょうちょう||rowspan=3|Akō Chō||rowspan=3|||rowspan=3|あこうちょう
|-
|Akō Chō||||あこうちょう
|-
|Kōshun Chō||||こうしゅんちょう
|-
|rowspan=2|Taitō Chō||rowspan=2|||rowspan=2|たいとうちょう||Taitō Chō||||たいとうちょう
|-
||Karenkō Chō||||かれんこうちょう
|-
|Hōko Chō||||ほうこちょう||Hōko Chō||||ほうこちょう
|-
!colspan=3|20 Chō!!colspan=3|12 Chō
|}
- Shinkō, Byōritsu, Toroku, Ensuikō were split and merge with the two Chō in the right.
Demographics
Population of Formosa according to census taken 31 December 1904, arranged by district.
{|class=wikitable
|+Population of Formosa as of 1915
!Prefecture!!Kanji!!Japanese!!Taiwanese!!Area (km²)!!Population
|-
|Taihoku||||Taihoku-chō||Tâi-pak-thiaⁿ||align=right|1,691.5284||align=right|523,502
|-
|Giran||||Giran-chō||Gî-lân-thiaⁿ||align=right|710.8631||align=right|143,912
|-
|Tōen||||Tōen-chō||Thô-hn̂g-thiaⁿ||align=right|984.5170||align=right|231,409
|-
|Shinchiku||||Shinchiku-chō||Sin-tek-thiaⁿ||align=right|1,705.1696||align=right|327,164
|-
|Taichū||||Taichū-chō||Tâi-tiong-thiaⁿ||align=right|2,271.4004||align=right|592,577
|-
|Nantō||||Nantō-chō||Lâm-tâu-thiaⁿ||align=right|1,274.9484||align=right|126,223
|-
|Kagi||||Kagi-chō||Ka-gī-thiaⁿ||align=right|3,249.8356||align=right|566,158
|-
|Tainan||||Tainan-chō||Tâi-lâm-thiaⁿ||align=right|2,345.5133||align=right|569,292
|-
|Akō||||Akō-chō||A-kâu-thiaⁿ||align=right|2,201.6170||align=right|259,441
|-
|Taitō||||Taitō-chō||Tâi-tang-thiaⁿ||align=right|1,204.4906||align=right|36,997
|-
|Karenkō||||Karenkō-chō||Hoa-liân-káng-thiaⁿ||align=right|1,315.7236||align=right|45,521
|-
|Hōko||||Hōko-chō||Phêⁿ-ô͘-thiaⁿ||align=right|126.8648||align=right|57,726
|}
Shū and Chō (1920–1952)
300px|thumb|Political division of Taiwan
[[File:Taiwan Japan lv2.svg|300px|thumb|Second level political division of Taiwan
]]
Under a "Dōka policy" (同化) in which the Japanese considered the Taiwanese to be separate but equal, the political divisions in Taiwan became similar to the system used in mainland Japan in 1920.
Structural hierarchy
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
!width=100|Level 1!!width=100|Level 2!!width=100|Level 3!!Level 4!!Level 5
|-
|rowspan=6|Prefecture<br> shū (5)<br> chō (3)
|colspan=2 rowspan=2 height=44|City<br> shi (11)
| chō || chōme
|-
|rowspan=4 height=132| ōaza||rowspan=4| koaza
|-
|rowspan=4|District<br> gun (51)<br>or<br>Subprefecture<br> shichō (2)
|Town<br> gai (68)
|-
|Village<br> jō (197)
|-
|rowspan=2 height=44|Aboriginal area<br> banchi
|-
|colspan=2 height=22| sha (571)
|}
- Chō () and chōme () are used in the city centers.
- Sha () is used to name the tribes of the indigenous peoples.
Prefectures
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
!rowspan=2|Name!!rowspan=2|Kanji!!rowspan=2|Kana!!colspan=3|No. of Subdivisions!!rowspan=2|Wade–Giles
|-
!City!!Dist.!!Subp.
|-
|Taihoku Prefecture||||たいほくしゅう||3||9|| ||Taipei
|-
|Shinchiku Prefecture||||しんちくしゅう||1||8|| ||Hsinchu
|-
|Taichū Prefecture||||たいちゅうしゅう||2||11|| ||Taichung
|-
|Tainan Prefecture||||たいなんしゅう||2||10|| ||Tainan
|-
|Takao Prefecture||||たかおしゅう||2||7|| ||Kaohsiung
|-
|Karenkō Prefecture||||かれんこうちょう||1||3|| ||Hualien Port
|-
|Taitō Prefecture||||たいとうちょう|| ||3|| ||Taitung
|-
|Hōko Prefecture||||ほうこちょう|| || ||2||Penghu
|}
- Hōko Prefecture was divided from Takao Prefecture in 1926
Cities
There were 11 cities in Taiwan in 1945. Most of them are still the most populous municipalities in the country today. The ōaza (大字) in the city center may be named chō (町).
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
!Prefecture!!Name!!Kanji!!Kana!!Wade–Giles
|-
|rowspan=3|Taihoku
|Taihoku City||||たいほくし||Taipei
|-
|Kiirun City||||きいるんし||Keelung
|-
|Giran City||||ぎらんし||Yilan
|-
|Shinchiku
|Shinchiku City||||しんちくし||Hsinchu
|-
|rowspan=2|Taichū
|Taichū City||||たいちゅうし||Taichung
|-
|Shōka City||||しょうかし||Changhua
|-
|rowspan=2|Tainan
|Tainan City||||たいなんし||Tainan
|-
|Kagi City||||かぎし||Chiayi
|-
|rowspan=2|Takao
|Takao City||||たかおし||Kaohsiung
|-
|Heitō City||||へいとうし||Pingtung
|-
|Karenkō
|Karenkō City||||かれんこうし||Hualien
|}
Demographics
The 1941 (Showa 16) census of Taiwan was 6,249,468. 93.33% of the population were Taiwanese which consisted of both Han Taiwanese and "civilized" Taiwanese aborigines. Tainan had the largest population followed by Taichū and Taihoku. The largest concentration of ethnic Japanese were in Taihoku followed by Takao and Tainan.
{|class=wikitable
|+Demographics of Taiwan as of 1942
!rowspan=3|Prefecture!!rowspan=3|Kanji!!rowspan=3|Japanese!!rowspan=3|Taiwanese
!rowspan=3|Area<br>(km²)!!rowspan=3|Population!!rowspan=3|Population<br>Density<br>(/km²)!!colspan=5|Demographics
|-
!colspan=3|Japanese national!!colspan=2|Foreign national
|-
!Taiwanese!!Japanese!!Korean!!Chinese!!Other
|-
|Taihoku||||Taihoku-shū||Tâi-pak-chiu||align=right|4,594.2371||align=right|1,266,924||align=right|276
|align=right|1,078,316||align=right|161,306||align=right|1,161||align=right|26,138||align=right|53
|-
|Shinchiku||||Shinchiku-shū||Sin-tek-chiu||align=right|4,570.0146||align=right|856,382||align=right|187
|align=right|832,565||align=right|21,632||align=right|165||align=right|2,020||align=right|0
|-
|Taichū||||Taichū-shū||Tâi-tiong-chiu||align=right|7,382.9426||align=right|1,411,846||align=right|191
|align=right|1,359,865||align=right|47,688||align=right|284||align=right|4,001||align=right|8
|-
|Tainan||||Tainan-shū||Tâi-lâm-chiu||align=right|5,421.4627||align=right|1,587,513||align=right|293
|align=right|1,524,123||align=right|55,389||align=right|289||align=right|7,699||align=right|13
|-
|Takao||||Takao-shū||Ko-hiông-chiu||align=right|5,721.8672||align=right|969,935||align=right|170
|align=right|896,689||align=right|65,446||align=right|585||align=right|7,214||align=right|1
|-
|Karenkō||||Karenkō-chō||Hoa-liân-káng-thiaⁿ||align=right|4,628.5713||align=right|167,911||align=right|36
|align=right|143,671||align=right|21,811||align=right|174||align=right|2,255||align=right|0
|-
|Taitō||||Taitō-chō||Tâi-tang-thiaⁿ||align=right|3,515.2528||align=right|97,059||align=right|28
|align=right|88,317||align=right|7,687||align=right|31||align=right|1,023||align=right|1
|-
|Hōko||||Hōko-chō||Phêⁿ-ô͘-thiaⁿ||align=right|126.8642||align=right|70,312||align=right|554
|align=right|66,342||align=right|3,888||align=right|3||align=right|79||align=right|0
|}
Changes in 1945
When the Republic of China began to rule Taiwan in 1945, the government simply changed the names of the divisions, and named the Aboriginal areas.
{|class=wikitable
!colspan=5|Before!!rowspan=11| !!colspan=5|After
|-
!Level!!Name!!Character!!Japanese<br>Hepburn!!Taiwanese<br>Pe̍h-ōe-jī
!Name!!Character!!Mandarin<br>Pinyin!!Taiwanese<br>Pe̍h-ōe-jī!!Level
|-
|rowspan=2 align=center|1
|rowspan=2|Prefecture||align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|shū||align=center|chiu
|rowspan=2|County||rowspan=2 align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||rowspan=2 align=center|xiàn||rowspan=2 align=center|koān
|rowspan=3 align=center|1
|-
|align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|chō||align=center|thiaⁿ
|-
|rowspan=4 align=center|2
|rowspan=2|City||rowspan=2 align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||rowspan=2 align=center|shi||rowspan=2 align=center|chhī
|Provincial city||align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|shì||align=center|chhī
|-
|County-administered city||align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|xiànxiáshì||align=center|koān-hat-chhī
|rowspan=3 align=center|2
|-
|District||align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|gun||align=center|kūn
|rowspan=2|County-administered district||rowspan=2 align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||rowspan=2 align=center|xiànxiáqū||rowspan=2 align=center|koān-hat-khu
|-
|Subprefecture||align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|shichō||align=center|chi-thiaⁿ
|-
|rowspan=3 align=center|3
|Town||align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|gai||align=center|ke
|Urban township||align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|zhèn||align=center|tìn
|rowspan=3 align=center|3
|-
|Village||align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|jō||align=center|chng
|Rural township||align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|xiāng||align=center|hiong
|-
|Aboriginal areas||align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|banchi||align=center|huan-tē
|Mountain indigenous township||align=center|<span style="font-size:125%;"></span>||align=center|shāndì xiāng||align=center|soaⁿ-tē hiong
|}
- Most of the cities in Taiwan became provincial cities, but Yilan (宜蘭市 Giran) and Hualien (花蓮市 Karen) became the first two county-administered cities in the ROC.
- The more basic or are merged to the districts in provincial cities, and/or reformed to villages ( or ).
See also
- Administrative divisions of Taiwan
- Administrative divisions of Japan
- Prefectures of Japan
- Governor-General of Taiwan