| Fuchien Province | |
| Native Name: | 福建省 |
| Native Name Lang: | zh-tw |
| Settlement Type: | Province |
| Translit Lang1: | Name |
| Translit Lang1 Info: | Chinese: 福建省 |
| Translit Lang1 Info1: | FJ / Chinese: {{linktext|閩 (pinyin:) |
| Seal Size: | 120px |
| Seal Type: | Seal of Fujian Province |
| Mapsize: | 275px |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Seat Type: | Provincial capital |
| Seat: | Jincheng, Kinmen (de facto) Foochow (claimed, de jure) |
| Seat1 Type: | Largest city |
| Seat1: | Jincheng, Kinmen |
| Parts Type: | Divisions |
| Parts Style: | para |
| P1: | 67 counties |
| P2: | 2 cities |
| Established Title: | Jiangnandong Circuit |
| Established Date: | 626 |
| Established Title1: | Fujian Circuit |
| Established Date1: | 985 |
| Established Title2: | Taiwan as a prefecture of Fujian ruled by the Qing dynasty |
| Established Date2: | 1684 |
| Established Title3: | Taiwan as a province of Qing dynasty formally detached from Fujian |
| Established Date3: | 1887 |
| Established Title4: | Fujian People's Government |
| Established Date4: | 1933—1934 |
| Established Title5: | Division of Fujian |
| Established Date5: | 17 August 1949 |
| Established Title6: | Streamlined |
| Established Date6: | 16 July 1956 |
| Established Title7: | Demilitarised |
| Established Date7: | 7 November 1992 |
| Extinct Title: | Government functions removed |
| Extinct Date: | 31 December 2018 |
| Government Type: | Province (nominal) |
| Governing Body: | Kinmen-Matsu Joint Services Center |
| Area Blank1 Title: | 1948 |
| Area Blank1 Km2: | 119,340 |
| Area Blank2 Title: | 2018 |
| Area Blank2 Km2: | 180.4560 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Free area |
| Population Blank1: | 153876 |
| Population Blank2 Title: | Constitutional claims |
| Population Blank2: | 41,563,668 |
| Population Demonym: | Fujianese, Fukienese, Kinmenese, Matsunese |
| Timezone: | Asia/Taipei |
| Utc Offset: | +08:00 |
| Demographics Type1: | Demographics |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Languages and dialects |
| Demographics1 Info1: | Min, Mandarin |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 209–212, 890–896 |
| Area Code: | (0)82, (0)826, (0)836 |
| Iso Code: | TW |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Counties |
| Blank Info Sec1: | 2--> |
| Website: | FKPG.gov.tw |
| Fuchien | |
| Pic: | Fujian (Chinese characters).svg |
| Piccap: | "Fuchien" in Chinese characters |
| Picsize: | 125px |
| Psp: | Fukien |
| L: | "Fú(zhōu) and Jiàn(zhōu)" |
| Gr: | Fwujiann |
| Bpmf: | ㄈㄨˊ ㄐㄧㄢˋ |
| W: | Fu²-chien⁴ |
| Tp: | Fújiàn |
| Mps: | Fújiàn |
| Myr: | Fújyàn |
| Wuu: | Foh-ji |
| J: | Fuk1gin3 |
| Y: | Fūkgin |
| Phfs: | Fuk-kien or Fuk-kian |
| Poj: | Hok-kiàn |
| Tl: | Hok-kiàn |
| Buc: | Hók-gióng |
| Hhbuc: | Ho̤h-ge̤̍ng |
| Mblmc: | Hŭ-gṳ̿in.g |
| Showflag: | ppojbuchhbuc |
| Also Known As: | Abbreviation |
| L2: | [the [[Min River (Fujian)|Mǐn River]]] |
| P2: | Mǐn |
| Gr2: | Miin |
| Tp2: | Mǐn |
| Bpmf2: | ㄇㄧㄣˇ |
| W2: | Min³ |
| Mps2: | Mǐn |
| Myr2: | Mǐn |
| J2: | Man5 |
| Y2: | Máhn |
| Poj2: | Bân |
| Tl2: | Bân |
| Buc2: | Mìng |
| Hhbuc2: | Máng |
| Mblmc2: | Mâing |
| Phfs2: | Mén |
| Altname3: | Fujian Province |
| Bpmf3: | ㄈㄨˊ ㄐㄧㄢˋ ㄕㄥˇ |
| W3: | Fu²-chien⁴ Shêng³ |
| P3: | Fújiàn Shěng |
| Tp3: | Fújiàn Shěng |
| Mps3: | Fújiàn Shěng |
| Gr3: | Fwujiann Sheeng |
| Myr3: | Fújyàn Shěng |
| J3: | Fuk1gin3 Saang2 |
| Y3: | Fūkgin Sáang |
| Poj3: | Hok-kiàn-séng |
| Tl3: | Hok-kiàn-síng |
| Phfs3: | Fuk-kien-sén or Fuk-kian-sén |
| Buc3: | Hók-gióng sēng |
Fuchien Province[1], also romanized as Fujian and rendered as Fukien, is a nominal province of the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) without formal administrative function. It includes three small archipelagos off the coast of the Fujian Province of the People's Republic of China, namely the Matsu Islands, which make up Lienchiang County, and the Wuqiu Islands and Kinmen Islands, which make up Kinmen County. The seat of the administrative centre is Jincheng Township of Kinmen County which serves as its de facto capital. The province is also known as the Golden Horse, after the literal reading of the Chinese character abbreviation for "Kinmen-Matsu".
The islands are the only part of a larger province that remain ROC-controlled. The People's Republic of China gained control of the mainland portion in 1949 during the Chinese Civil War. The islands were under military administration during the Cold War; travel restrictions were not lifted until 1992.
Provincial administration was transferred to the national and county governments in 1998 following government reforms. The provincial government was practically abolished in 2018.
See also: Fujian.
The Han dynasty collapsed at the end of the 2nd century AD, paving the way for the Three Kingdoms era. Sun Quan, the founder of the Kingdom of Wu, spent nearly twenty years subduing the Shan Yue people, the branch of the Yue living in mountains.
Fuchien was also where the kingdom of Minyue was located. The word "Mǐnyuè" was derived by combining "Mǐn", which is perhaps an ethnic name, and "Yuè", after the State of Yue, a Spring and Autumn period kingdom in Zhejiang to the north. This is because the royal family of Yuè fled to Fujian after its kingdom was annexed by the State of Chu in 306 BC. Mǐn is also the name of the main river in this area, but the ethnonym is probably older. The first wave of immigration of the noble class arrived in the province in the early 4th century when the Western Jin dynasty collapsed and the north was torn apart by invasions by nomadic peoples from the north, as well as civil war. These immigrants were primarily from eight families in central China: Lin (林), Huang (黃), Chen (陳), Zheng (鄭), Zhan (詹), Qiu (邱), He (何), and Hu (胡). The first four remain as the major surnames of modern Fujian. Nevertheless, isolation from nearby areas owing to rugged terrain contributed to Fujian's relatively backward economy and level of development, despite major population boost from northern China during the "barbarian" invasions. Population density in Fujian remained low compared to the rest of China. Only two commanderies and sixteen counties were established by the Western Jin dynasty. Like other southern provinces such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan, Fujian often served as a destination for exiled prisoners and dissidents at that time. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties era, the Southern Dynasties reigned south of the Yangtze River, including Fujian. The Tang dynasty (618–907) oversaw the next golden age of China. As the Tang dynasty ended, China was torn apart in the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. During this time, a second major wave of immigration arrived in the safe haven of Fujian, led by General Wang, who set up an independent Kingdom of Min with its capital in Fuzhou. After the death of the founding king, however, the kingdom suffered from internal strife, and was soon swallowed up by Southern Tang, another southern kingdom.[2] Quanzhou was blooming into a seaport under the reign of the Min Kingdom, and is the largest seaport in the world. Its population is also greater than Fuzhou.[3] [4] Due to the Ispah Rebellion, Quanzhou was severely damaged. In the early Ming dynasty, Quanzhou was the staging area and supply depot of Zheng He's naval expeditions. Further development was severely hampered by the sea trade ban of the Ming dynasty, and the area was superseded by nearby ports of Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai despite the lifting of the ban in 1550. Large scale piracy by Wokou (Japanese pirates) was eventually wiped out by Chinese military and Japanese authority of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Late Ming and early Qing dynasty symbolized an era of large influx of refugees and another 20 years of sea trade ban under the Kangxi Emperor, a measure intended to counter the refuge Ming government of Koxinga in Taiwan. Incoming refugees, however, did not translate into a major labor force owing to their re-migration into prosperous regions of Guangdong. In 1683, the Qing dynasty conquered Taiwan and annexed it into Fujian province, as Taiwan Prefecture. Settlement of Taiwan by Han Chinese followed, and the majority of people in Taiwan are descendants of Hoklo people from Southern Fujian. Fujian arrived at its present extent after Taiwan was split as its own province in 1885.[5] Just ten more years later, Taiwan Province would be lost to Japan due to the Qing losing the First Sino-Japanese War which ended in 1895.
See also: Communist-controlled China (1927–1949), Chinese Soviet Republic and Fujian People's Government.
The Xinhai Revolution deposed the Qing dynasty brought the province into the rule of the Republic of China. Fujian briefly gained independence from China again under the Fujian People's Government until it was recontrolled by the ROC during the Warlord Era.
Parts of the province in the northwestern area of Fujian were controlled by the Jiangxi–Fujian Soviet, a component territory controlled by the Chinese Soviet Republic until its collapse in 1934 at the start of the Long March.
It came under Japanese sea blockade during Second Sino-Japanese War.
During the late stages of 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 15 January 1996, the provincial government moved back to Kinmen, on Fujian soil.[6]
Beginning in 2010, the ROC 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.
See main article: Fujian Provincial Government.
The Governor of Fujian Province was the head of the Fujian Provincial Government, the governor was also titled the "Chairperson of the Fujian Provincial Government". According to the Additional Articles of the Constitution, the governor was appointed by the central government.
The Fujian Provincial Government was located in Jincheng, Kinmen between January 1996 and 2018.
Provincial administration was transferred to counties and the national-level National Development Council in 1998, with the transition occurring in 1999 and 2000.[7] This followed 1997 constitutional reforms to downsize provincial governments. The provincial government was reduced to a local interface for the national government[8] with appointed rather than elected officers;[7] it became dormant[8] when the remaining staff and responsibilities were transferred in 2018.[9]
The Kinmen-Matsu Joint Services Center was founded in 2017[10] as the local government office handling administration of the islands.[11] It took over the remaining responsibilities of the provincial government.[8]
See main article: List of administrative divisions of Fujian.
Fujian province nominally comprises two counties: Kinmen County and Lienchiang County. These islands have a total area of 182.66km2 and a total population of 71,000 (2001).
The following are the islands of Fujian under the administration of the ROC, given by county:
| Name | Kinmen County | Lienchiang County | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | ||||
| Hokkien | Kim-mn̂g-koān | Liân-kang-koān | ||
| Hakka | Kîm-mùn-yen | Lièn-kông-yen | ||
| Matsunese | Gĭng-muòng-gâing | Lièng-gŏng-gâing | ||
| Wuqiunese | Ging-meóng-gā̤ⁿ | Léng-gang-gā̤ⁿ | ||
| Flag | ||||
| Map | ||||
| Islands | numerous islands & islets[12] [13] [14] | 36 islands | ||
|
| |||
| Administrative divisions | 6 townships | 4 townships |
The PRC claims Kinmen as a county of Quanzhou, Fujian and the Matsu Islands as a township of Lianjiang County, Fuzhou, Fujian (with some islands claimed as parts of other areas).
Culturally, its population is predominantly of Han Chinese ethnicity, though Fujian remains one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse provinces of the country. Dialects of the language group Min Chinese were most commonly spoken within the province, including the Fuzhou dialect of northeastern Fujian and various Hokkien dialects of southeastern Fujian. Hakka Chinese is also spoken, by the Hakka people in Fujian. Min dialects, Hakka and Mandarin Chinese are mutually unintelligible. Due to emigration, a sizable amount of the ethnic Chinese populations in Southeast Asia speak Southern Min (or Hokkien).
See also: List of universities and colleges in Fujian.
