evidence: The special administrative regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China are one of four types of province-level divisions of the People's Republic of China directly under the control of its Central People's Government (State Council), being integral areas of the country. As a region, they possess the highest degree of autonomy from China's central government. However, despite the relative autonomy that the Central People's Government offers the special administrative regions, the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee remains capable of enforcing laws for the special administrative regions.[3] [...] Defunct SARs [edit]In the Republic of China (ROC) era between 1912 and 1949, the "special administrative regions" (Chinese: 特別行政區; pinyin: tèbié xíngzhèngqū) 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 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, but they continued to exist as provinces under ROC law. The regions were: