Political divisions of Taiwan (1895–1945)


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.

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.

Early years (1895–1901)

The political divisions changed frequently between 1895 and 1901.

Chō (1901–1920)

The former system was abolished 11 November 1901, and twenty local administrative offices were established. Usage of Ken divisions was discontinued.

Structural hierarchy

Level 1Level 2Level 3Level 4
Prefecture
廳 chō		Subprefecture
支廳 shichō		District
區 ku		Town
街 gai
Prefecture
廳 chō		Subprefecture
支廳 shichō		District
區 ku		Village
莊 jō

Prefectures

  • Shinkō, Byōritsu, Toroku, Ensuikō were split and merge with the two Chō in the right.

    Population

Population of Formosa according to census taken 31 December 1904, arranged by district.

Shū and Chō (1920–1945)

Under a "Dōka policy" 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

Prefectures

There were 11 cities in Taiwan in 1945. Most of them are still the most populous municipalities in the country today. The ōaza in the city center may be named chō.
PrefectureNameKanjiKanaWade–GilesPrefectureNameKanjiKanaWade–Giles
TaihokuTaihoku City臺北市たいほくしTaipeiTainanTainan City臺南市たいなんしTainan
TaihokuKīrun City基隆市きいるんしKeelungTainanKagi City嘉義市かぎしChiayi
TaihokuGiran City宜蘭市ぎらんしYilanTakaoTakao City高雄市たかおしKaohsiung
ShinchikuShinchiku City新竹市しんちくしHsinchuTakaoHeitō City屏東市へいとうしPingtung
TaichūTaichū City臺中市たいちゅうしTaichungKarenkōKarenkō City花蓮港市かれんこうしHualien
TaichūShōka City彰化市しょうかしChanghua-----

Population

The 1941 census of Taiwan was 6,249,468. 93.33% of the population were Taiwanese which consisted of both Han Chinese 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.
AreaJapaneseTaiwaneseKoreanOtherTotal
Taihoku Prefecture153,9281,053,3721,05125,5311,233,882
Shinchiku Prefecture20,693815,2741501,894838,011
Taichū Prefecture46,3711,329,6203333,8631,380,187
Tainan Prefecture53,4461,489,6212537,3751,550,695
Takao Prefecture59,633863,3135986,839930,383
Karenkō Prefecture20,914130,7201192,032153,785
Taitō Prefecture7,07885,0683595793,138
Hōko Prefecture3,61965,694 7469,387
Total365,6825,832,6822,53948,5656,249,468
Percentage5.85%93.33%0.04%0.78%100%

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.
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