District (Republic of China)

Districts (Chinese: 區; pinyin: qū; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ku) refer to a type of administrative division in Taiwan, an island controlled by the Republic of China.

After World War II, Taiwan, formerly under Japanese rule, was handed over to the Republic of China (see Retrocession Day). Consequently, several provincial cities were established in Taiwan, including Changhua, Chiayi, Hsinchu, Kaohsiung, Keelung, Pingtung, Taichung, Tainan and Taipei. On the other hand, the towns (Japanese: ^?) in the original prefecture-controlled cities were merged into several districts. However Changhua and Pingtung were downgraded to county-controlled cities and their districts are now defunct.

When Taipei was promoted as a special municipality by the central government in 1967, several townships surrounding the city were merged into Taipei City and were reorganized as its districts. Afterwards, through another reorganization in 1990, the 12 current districts were formed. In addition, Kaohsiung, the largest city in southern Taiwan, was promoted as a special municipality in 1979. Siaogang Township was also merged to Siaogang District.

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