Songyuan Villa Introduction
Songyuan Villa was built around the year 1943 and once served as the office of the "Military Affairs Department" in Hualien Port. It was connected to nearby sites such as the "Broadcasting Station" (now known as China Broadcasting Corporation Hualien Station), the "Coast Radio Station" (now Chunghwa Telecom), and the waterworks (currently the Meilun Water Treatment Plant) through a grove of pine trees. Due to its vantage point directly facing the exquisite Meilun River estuary at North Beach, it has a natural high vantage point advantage, allowing for a view of the estuary of the Meilun River, Hualien Port, and the Pacific Ocean. It easily monitored the vessels entering and exiting the southern coastal waters and the aircraft taking off and landing at the Southern Airport. Surrounded by dense pine tree shade, it acted as a significant military command center for the Japanese army in Hualien. After the war, it was taken over by the Nationalist Government military and served as a leisure resort center for American military advisors. Later, it was managed by the Veterans Affairs Council and remains so to this day. In 2000, the Hualien County Government designated Songyuan as a "Historical Landscape Area", and in 2001, it was chosen as one of the trial sites for the "Reuse of Idle Spaces" initiative by the Council for Cultural Affairs and was selected as one of Taiwan's "100 Historical Sites."
