the People's Republic of China. This is primarily because the Wolong Special Administrative Region was established with the approval of the State Council, rather than "by law enacted by the National People's Congress" as stipulated in Article 31 of the Constitution. Defunct SARs In the Republic of China (ROC) era between 1912 and 1949, the "special administrative regions" () were historically used to designate special areas by the Beiyang government, most of which were eventually converted into provinces by the Nationalist government in 1928. All were de facto suspended or abolished after the end of the Chinese Civil War, with the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the ROC government's retreat to Taiwan (a former Japanese colony taken by the ROC in 1945 after World War II), but these continued to exist as provinces de jure. The regions were: See also Autonomous regions of China Constitution of the People's Republic of China Federacy History of Hong Kong British Hong Kong History of Macau Portuguese Macau Notes References Province-level divisions of China Territorial disputes of the Republic of China