Songshan District is a district of Taipei, Taiwan. The Songshan Airport and the Taipei Arena are located here.
Songshan was originally named Malysyakkaw, a lowland Ketagalan word meaning "where the river curves". Its written form () was abbreviated () in 1815 during Qing rule.
During Japanese rule (1895-1945), the area served as a prime tea-growing area in northern Taiwan. In 1920, the area's settlements were established as , Shichisei District, Taihoku Prefecture. The village, named after Matsuyama City in Japan, was incorporated into Taihoku City (modern-day Taipei) in 1938.
At the outset of one-party rule by the Kuomintang (1945-1990), the Mandarin Chinese reading of the kanji characters (i.e. Sung-shan) was adopted as the name of the district, which in 1946 officially comprised 26 boroughs (). In 1949, the area's tea estates gave way to military housing for lower-income Kuomintang refugee families. The bodies of many residents and political victims from Taiwan's martial law period are buried in hillside cemeteries that now overlook the Taipei 101 shopping district. By 1980, Songshan was the most populous area of the city.
In 1990, the southern half of Songshan District became Xinyi District while the northern half retained its original name. The boundary of this smaller Songshan District was altered in May 1994 when the course of Keelung River was moved slightly to the south.
Songshan is divided into four regions (), or secondary districts (), which in turn are divided into 33 boroughs.
The district is a major financial center in Taipei, with many banking institutions located on Dunhua North Road () and Nanjing East Road ().
Mandarin Airlines, Daily Air and Far Eastern Air Transport have their headquarters in Songshan.
Before moving its headquarters to a new location at CAL Park, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, China Airlines formerly had its headquarters in the location of its current Taipei Branch Office on Nanjing E. Rd. After the headquarters were relocated, China Airlines developed part of the training center at Taipei Songshan Airport into a business aviation center.
In addition, there are six middle schools, and eight elementary schools
Fuxing North Road () runs along the western boundary of the district. The other major north-south road is Dunhua North Road (). Several major east-west arteries include Minquan East Road (), Sec. 3âÂÂ5; Minsheng East Road (), Sec. 3âÂÂ5; Nanjing East Road (), Sec. 3âÂÂ5; and Bade Road (), Sec. 2âÂÂ4.
The southern border is outlined by the Civic Blvd (). Meanwhile, National Highway 1 borders the northern part of the district.
The Taipei Metro serves the district via the following stations:
Songshan Airport is located in Dongshe Region, accessible by the Taipei Metro Wenhu line's Songshan Airport metro station.