Special municipality (Taiwan) in the context of "New Taipei City"

Taipei (/ˌtaɪˈpeɪ/ ; traditional Chinese: 臺北; simplified Chinese: 台北; pinyin: Táiběi pronounced:[tʰǎɪpèɪ]), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of Taiwan. Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about 25 km (16 mi) southwest of the northern port city of Keelung. Most of the city rests on the Taipei Basin, an ancient lakebed. The basin is bounded by the relatively narrow valleys of the Keelung and Xindian rivers, which join to form the Tamsui River along the city's western border.

The municipality of Taipei is home to an estimated population of 2,494,813 (March 2023), forming the core part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, also known as "Greater Taipei", which includes the nearby cities of New Taipei and Keelung with a population of 7,047,559, the 40th most-populous urban area in the world—roughly one-third of Taiwanese citizens live in the metro areas. The name "Taipei" can refer either to the whole metropolitan area or just the municipality alone. Taipei has been the political center of the island since 1887, when it first became the seat of Taiwan Province by the Qing dynasty until 1895 and again from 1945 to 1956 by the Republic of China (ROC) government, with an interregnum from 1895 to 1945 as the seat of the Government-General of Taiwan during the Japanese rule. The city has been the national seat of the ROC central government since 1949, and it became the nation's first special municipality (then known as Yuan-controlled municipality) on 1 July 1967, upgrading from provincial city status.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) is divided into multi-layered statutory subdivisions. Due to the complex political status of Taiwan, there is a significant difference in the de jure system set out in the original constitution and the de facto system in use today.

The Republic of China (ROC) government defines the Taiwan Area (Free Area) as its actual controlled territories, which is constitutionally divided into two provinces and six special municipalities, with each province subdivided into cities and counties. After a constitutional amendment in 1997, the provinces became non-self-governing bodies and remained as nominal divisions under the constitution, with no governing powers. The provincial governments were abolished in 2018. Provincial borders remained for statistical purposes.

Taiwan Province (Chinese: 臺灣省; pinyin: Táiwān Shěng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân-séng; PFS: Thòi-vàn-sén or Thòi-vân-sén) is a de jure administrative division of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Provinces remain a titular division as a part of the Constitution of the Republic of China, but are no longer considered to have any administrative function practically.

Taiwan Province covers approximately 69% of the island of Taiwan, and comprises around 31% of the total population. The province initially covered the entire island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu (the Pescadores), Orchid Island, Green Island, Xiaoliuqiu Island, and their surrounding islands. Between 1967 and 2014, six special municipalities (Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei and Taoyuan) were split off from the province, all in the most populous regions.

Metropolitan areas were recognized by the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) until 2010 and were separated into 5 metropolitan areas and 2 satellite cities. They were: Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, and Kaoshiung. All special municipalities are within these metropolitan areas.

The definition of metropolitan areas used by the ROC central government were:

Taoyuan (/ˌtaʊjuːˈɛn/) is a special municipality located in northwestern Taiwan, neighboring New Taipei City to the north-east, Yilan County to the south-east, and Hsinchu County to the south-west. Taoyuan District is the seat of the municipal government and which, along with Zhongli District, forms a large metropolitan area. Taoyuan developed from a satellite city of Taipei metropolitan area to become the fourth-largest metropolitan area, and fifth-largest populated city in Taiwan. "Taoyuan" literally means "peach garden" in Chinese, since the area used to have many peach trees. Formerly a county, Taoyuan became the latest new founding special municipality in 2014.

Taoyuan City is home to many industrial parks and tech company headquarters. Due to the city's proximity to Taipei, and the lower cost of living, Taoyuan has had the fastest population growth of any city in Taiwan in recent decades. The city is also home to 116,000 foreign workers, with many coming from Southeast Asia and working in factories or as household caregivers. Taoyuan International Airport, which serves the capital, Taipei and the rest of northern Taiwan, is located in this city.

Taoyuan–Zhongli metropolitan area (桃園中壢都會區) is the metropolitan area located in northwestern Taiwan, which encompasses most of Taoyuan City as well as parts of neighbouring urban districts of New Taipei such as Yingge and Linkou. The districts of Taoyuan and Zhongli are typical twin cities within the region which share approximate population sizes and similar function of urban centres, and have been respectively emerging to regional commercial centres on the periphery of the northern and southern parts of the municipality. Many industrial parks and tech company headquarters settle in this region. However, since 2010, the term is no longer in official usage. Recent report suggested that Taoyuan city is part of Taipei metropolitan area.

Taoyuan City witnessed the fastest population growth of Taiwan in the past few decades, and since 2014 it has been promoted to a special municipality from county status. It has become the fourth largest metropolitan area in Taiwan. In some sources, Taoyuan–Zhongli metropolitan area is occasionally viewed as an extent of Taipei metropolitan area due to its proximity and being complementary to each other economically, especially the Taoyuan International Airport is a major hub airport which serves the entirety of northern Taiwan.

Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of 2,952 km (1,140 sq mi) making It the largest city in Taiwan by area. Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.72 million people and is Taiwan's third most populous city and the largest city in southern Taiwan.

Founded in the 17th century as a small trading village named Tancoia, a name of uncertain origins, the city has since grown into the economic center of southern Taiwan, with key industries such as manufacturing, steel-making, oil refining, freight transport and shipbuilding. It is classified as a "Sufficiency" level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, with some of the most prominent infrastructures in Taiwan.