During its half-century of Japanese occupation that followed the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, Taiwan was ruled as a colony and the personal rights and democratic aspirations of the island's people were neglected. After restoration to China in 1945, at the end of World War II, the central government first set up an Office of the Taiwan Provincial Chief Administrator, which was reorganized in 1947 as the Taiwan Provincial Government (TPG).
The island's administrative system was restructured into eight counties and nine municipalities under the jurisdiction of the provincial government, and two cities under the jurisdiction of county governments. The counties were further divided into districts, which were divided in turn into hsiang and chen (townships), and these into tsun (villages), then li (neighborhoods). The neighborhoods were divided into the smallest units of all, termed lin.
In 1950 the TPG moved to give substance to self-rule by promulgating its "Outline for Implementation of Local Self-Government by all Counties and Cities in Taiwan Province." This move helped to develop a strong sense of democracy among the public; it also laid the foundation for popular rule in Taiwan, and paved the way for today's prosperity and stability.
Under this early administrative structure, each county and city had a government headed by a commissioner appointed by the provincial government. The townships, into which counties were divided, had administrations that enjoyed no real autonomy but acted as branches of the county governments. When counties and cities were reorganized into smaller units in 1950, the township administrations were discarded as being no longer necessary.
Area offices were set up under township, city, and county administrations, and before 1950 a chief and one or two deputies were appointed for each area by the county government. With the introduction of local self-government in 1950, the method of selecting area chiefs was changed to popular election and the deputy chief position was abolished. Since the area offices were no more than branches of municipality governments and had no independent financial systems, their autonomous status was revoked; in 1959, county governments began appointing area chiefs.
Villages and neighborhoods were subordinate to area offices and did not enjoy local government status; each of these units, however, had unpaid chiefs elected by their respective assemblies. These assemblies were important, since the 1945 regulations governing the establishment of representative organs required formation of village and ward assemblies before county councils could be set up, and for the formation of county councils before the Taiwan Provincial Assembly could be organized.
Members of village and neighborhood assemblies were elected by the people of the villages and neighborhoods, and township representatives were elected from among the members of village assemblies. City and county councillors were elected from among area representatives, and provincial assembly members were elected from among these councillors.
In those days, the elected units with the most autonomy were the councils of cities under county jurisdiction, and the offices of areas under township jurisdiction. These units also had the most financial, policy monitoring, and legislative powers. Next in power came the municipality and county councils, which also had considerable financial, policy monitoring, and legislative authority but could not elect their own commissioners. Those officials were appointed by the TPG.
The provincial assembly itself operated something like a consultants' office for the provincial government; in the beginning, it had no say even in the provincial government's budget. Later on its organic law was revised, but still the assembly was allowed only the privilege of "initial" review of the provincial government's budgets and accounts.
Although the assembly's statutory authority was limited, it had a powerful voice—even more powerful than today—because its elected members were leaders of society with great knowledge, moral authority, and popularity. For this reason, the provincial government showed a great deal of respect for the opinions of assembly members.
The Constitution of the Republic of China provides that local self-government should be based on a provincial self-government law. No such law has ever been instituted, however, because of such reasons as the occupation of the mainland by the communists. Thus local self-government has not been fully implemented in Taiwan as yet.
But this does not mean that there is no local self-government in Taiwan. During a session of the Taiwan Provincial Assembly back in January 1949, an assemblyman named Liu Kuo-tsai (currently Vice President of the Legislative Yuan) proposed that prior to the implementation of a provincial self-government law, measures should be worked out to govern local self-government at the township and town level. The TPG accepted the proposal in part and organized a Research Committee on Local Self-Government to study the matter. The committee came up with a draft bill covering self-government at the county and city levels. The bill was approved by the TPG and then the Executive Yuan, and was implemented in 1950.
Seventeen sets of implementation regulations covering local self-government were promulgated, but they were revised and consolidated until just three were left: "Outline for Implementation of Local Self-Government by all Counties and Cities in Taiwan Province," "Regulations Governing the Organization of City and County Councils," and "Regulations Governing the Organization of Township, City, and County Area Representative Offices."
In 1949 the TPG included the reorganization of Taiwan's administrative districts in its administrative program, and a reorganization plan was later submitted to the Executive Yuan for approval. The original administrative structure, with its eight counties and nine municipalities under the provincial government, and two cities under county governments, became 16 counties and five cities under the Taiwan Provincial Government. —(Dr. Ching-chiu Po is a professor of Public Administration at National Chengchi University, Taipei.)