The regions of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

are based on the historical administrative divisions. However, most of the definitions are not precise.

Division into two regions

* Eastern and Western Taiwan: the

Central Mountain Range The Central Mountain Range is the principal mountain range on the island of Taiwan. It runs from the north of the island to the south. Due to this separation, connecting between the west and east is not very convenient. The tallest peak of th ...

separates Taiwan into east and west. :* ''Eastern Taiwan'':

Yilan Yilan may refer to: China * Yilan County, Heilongjiang (依兰县), county of central Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China * Yilan Town, Heilongjiang (依兰镇), seat of Yilan County * Yilan, Jilin (依兰镇), town in Yanji Taiwan ...

, Hualien and Taitung. :* ''Western Taiwan'': other divisions from

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

to Pingtung. * Northern and Southern Taiwan:

Zhuoshui River The Zhuoshui River, also spelled Choshui or Jhuoshuei River, () is the longest river in Taiwan. It flows from its source in Nantou County up to the western border of the county, subsequently forming the border between Yunlin County and Changhua ...

, the longest river of Taiwan, flows through about the middle of the island. :* ''Northern Taiwan'':

New Taipei New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, b ...

, Keelung, Taoyuan,

Hsinchu Hsinchu (, Chinese: 新竹, Pinyin: ''Xīnzhú'', Wade–Giles: ''Hsin¹-chu²'') is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan Province not among the special municipalities, with estimated 450,655 inhabi ...

(City/

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Miaoli Miaoli City (Wade–Giles: ''Miao²-li⁴''; Hakka PFS: ''Mèu-li̍t-sṳ''; Hokkien POJ: ''Biâu-le̍k-chhī'' or ''Miâu-le̍k-chhī'') is a county-administered city and the county seat of Miaoli County, Taiwan. Miaoli has a relatively h ...

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Ta ...

Changhua Changhua (Hokkien POJ: ''Chiong-hòa'' or ''Chiang-hòa''), officially known as Changhua City, is a county-administered city and the county seat of Changhua County in Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. For many centuries the site was ...

, and

Nantou Nantou may refer to: * Nantou County (南投縣), a county in central Taiwan (Republic of China) * Nantou City (南投市), seat of Nantou County, Taiwan * Nantou (historical town) (南头), a historic town and former administrative center of Xin' ...

. :* ''Southern Taiwan'': Yunlin,

Chiayi Chiayi (, Taigi POJ: ''Ka-gī''; ), officially known as Chiayi City, is a city located in the plains of southwestern Taiwan. Formerly called ''Kagee'' during the late Qing dynasty and ''Kagi'' during the Japanese era (), its historical name ...

(City/

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of his ...

, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung.

Division into four regions

The most widely used definition is from the

Council for Economic Planning and Development The Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD; ) was a government agency responsible for drafting overall plans for national economic development in Taiwan (ROC). It also assessed development projects, proposals and programmes submitted ...

(), Executive Yuan. This division into four regions (tetrachotomy) scheme corresponds to the prefectures under Qing dynasty rule.

Division into five regions

The scheme of division into five regions (pentachotomy) is a fusion of the tetrachotomy and hexachotomy scheme. Although no specific names are given in each division, it is the most commonly used scheme among the highest divisions of the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...

. This scheme is used by the Joint Service Centers (JSC, ) under Executive Yuan () and the jurisdiction of High Court Branches () under Judicial Yuan ().

Division into six regions

The division into six regions (hexachotomy) scheme corresponds to the prefectures under Japanese rule. This scheme was used for national electoral districts in the legislative elections in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, 1980,

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

. The discussion of this scheme became popular after the elections of new five municipalities in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Regions Of Taiwan *

Division into two regions

Division into four regions

Division into five regions

Division into six regions

See also

References