Country Republic of China Streamlined July 16, 1956 Demonym(s) Kinmenese, Matsunese Population 141,011 (Feb 2015) | Split of Fukien August 17, 1949 Demilitarized November 7, 1992 Area 180.5 km² Capital Jincheng, Kinmen | |
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Provincial capital Fuzhou (1921-1949)
Kinmen County (Jincheng Township) (1949-1956)
Taipei County (Xindian City) (1956-1996)
Kinmen County (Jincheng Township) (1996-) | ||
Fujian Province, formerly romanized as Fukien Province (Chinese: 福建省; pinyin: Fújiàn Shěng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hok-kiàn-séng, see other names below), is a streamlined province of the Republic of China (ROC). It includes the small archipelagos of Kinmen (Quemoy) and Matsu Islands off the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The seat of the provincial government is Jincheng Township of Kinmen County.
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Map of Fujian Province
The current Fujian Province under ROC control was once part of a larger Fujian Province, which consisted of a mainland portion and some islands. After the Chinese Civil War of 1949, the majority of the historical province became Fujian, People's Republic of China, while the remaining islands remained under ROC control, which compose 0.5% of ROC's territories.
History
During the Chinese Civil War, the ROC lost control of mainland China, including most of Fujian province, and was forced to relocate to Taiwan, while the victorious Chinese Communist forces established the PRC in 1949, subsequently the capital of Fujian was also moved from Foochow to Jincheng. In the Battle of Guningtou, however, ROC forces were able to defend the island of Quemoy (Kinmen) just off the coast of Fujian from communist attack. As a result, the ROC has been able to hold on to a number of offshore islands of Fujian, and has continued to maintain a separate Fujian Provincial Government to govern these islands, parallel to the province of Fujian in mainland China.
In 1956, due to heightened potential for military conflict with the PRC, the ROC central government moved the Fujian provincial government out of Fujian to within Taiwan Province in Xindian (now part of New Taipei), and the islands were placed under an extraordinarily tight military administration due to their extreme proximity to mainland China. This was an unusual situation where the government of a province was located and operating in a different province. With the easing of cross-strait relations between the PRC and ROC and the democratization of the ROC in the 1990s, the islands were returned to civilian government in 1992. On January 15, 1996, the provincial government moved back to Kinmen, on Fujian soil.
Recently, the ROC has significantly diluted the powers of the two provinces it governs, namely Taiwan and Fujian. Most of the authority at the Fujian province level has been delegated to the two county governments of Kinmen and Lienchiang.
Subdivisions
Fujian province comprises two counties: Kinmen County and Lienchiang County. These islands have a total area of 182.66 km² and a total population of 71,000 (2001).
The following are the islands of Fujian under the administration of the ROC, given by county:
The PRC claims Kinmen as Jinmen County, Quanzhou, Fujian; Matsu Islands as Mazu Township, Lianjiang County, Fuzhou, Fujian.