These work-arounds are not that weird, there are multiple states with only 1 province already in game, to name a few: Memel, Gibraltar, Luxemburg, Zaolzie (ok, that one is a two-province state), those ports UK and Portugal have in China and I think some tiny colonies in Africa are also one-province states (Portugal's, Spain's and Liberia).
French Zhanjiang, Portugese Macau, British Hong-Kong, British Kuwait, British Belize (probably), French Pondicherry, Portugese Goa, British Gibraltar. There's probably more but these are just few one-province states which come to mind.