Xinyi District - from Taipei 101 Observatory

Cluster of skyscrapers in Eastern District, Taipei Taiwan

The Eastern District of Taipei () refers to the newly developed area in eastern

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. In its broadest sense, the Eastern District of Taipei is the whole region east of Fuxing South Road. In general, however, the Eastern District refers to the area between

Civic Boulevard The Civic Boulevard (; also called 5th Blvd) is a 4 to 6-lane highway located in Taipei, Taiwan. It was completed in 1997 as part of a multi-modal reconstruction project to improve transportation networks in congested central Taipei. The highw ...

and

Xinyi Road Xinyi Road (, also called 2nd Blvd) is an eastbound one-way arterial forming a one-way couplet with the nearby Renai Road (3rd Blvd), connecting the Zhongzheng District with the Xinyi District in Taipei, Taiwan. Its western terminus is at the E ...

, including most part of Daan District, Xinyi District and Songshan District, the administrative districts in eastern Taipei. With a plethora of business buildings, department stores and shopping districts, the Eastern District has now become one of the most cosmopolitan parts of Taipei.

Taipei City Hall The Taipei City Hall (), the seat of Taipei City government, is located at Xinyi Special District, Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The height of building is 54.42 m, the floor area is 196,684.59m2, and it comprises 12 floors above ground, as w ...

Taipei City Council Taipei City Council () is the city council of Taipei, Taiwan. One of the largest local councils in Taiwan, the city council is currently composed of 63 councillors, all elected lately in the 2018 Taiwanese local elections. Composition ...

and

Taipei 101 Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...

are all located in this district.

Eastern District vs. Western District

Historically, the Eastern District was not the downtown area of

Taipei City Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the Capital city, capital and a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Regions of Taiwan, Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of t ...

. The area was largely wilderness under the rule of the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese. The development of ZhongXiao East Road after the 1960s and the development of the

MRT MRT may refer to: Transport Rapid Transit Systems * Mass Rapid Transit (disambiguation) * MRT (Singapore) or Mass Rapid Transit, Singapore * MRT (Bangkok) or Metropolitan Rapid Transit, Thailand * Manila Metro Rail Transit System, Philippine ...

led to the rapid transformation of the Eastern District into a major

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

of not only Taipei, but the whole of

, much like the areas in front of

Taipei Main Station Taipei Main Station () is a railway and metro station in Taipei, Taiwan. It is served by Taiwan High Speed Rail, the Taiwan Railways Administration, and the Taipei Metro. It is also connected through underground passageways to the terminal sta ...

and

Ximending Ximending (sometimes Hsimenting, ; Tâi-lô: Se-mn̂g-ting; Japanese Romaji: ) is a neighborhood and shopping district in the Wanhua District of Taipei, Taiwan, along with its main rival, the Eastern District of Taipei. Overview Ximending ha ...

, back in their prime. In contrast to the Eastern District, which is the present-day financial district of Taipei, the Western District primarily consists of administrative buildings for the Central Government.

Development

The rise of the Eastern District as the business district of Taipei only occurred in the last decade. The development of Taipei during the Qing Dynasty was limited to the area of Taipei Prefecture (bordered by Zhonghua Rd., Zhongshan S. Rd., Aiguo W. Rd. and Zhongxiao W. Rd.). During Japanese rule, the development of a downtown was only extended eastward to the Horikawa Drainage Channel (present day Xinsheng North and South Roads). The situation changed in the early 1940s when the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

retreated to Taiwan with 2 million people. After that, because many colleges and universities were located in Taipei City and its suburbs, people from central or southern Taiwan came to Taipei to study or work. These factors lead to a sharp increase in population, causing overpopulation in the Western District. Furthermore, the Danshui River hindered the expansion of Taipei City to develop in a westerly direction. These factors resulted in the development of Eastern District. When jurisdiction of Taipei City changed to the central government in 1967, in order to allow mass development of the city, the city government launched the first four-year public construction project and constructed the main thoroughfares to the suburbs. Zhongxiao E. Rd. was the main thoroughfare leading to the Eastern District. The construction of Zhongxiao E. Rd. Sections 3 and onward led to the rise of the Eastern District developments. These factors led to the Eastern District overtaking the Western District as the new business center of Taipei. The development of the Xinyi Planned District and the opening of the MRT Wenshan Line and MRT Nangang Line rapidly boosted the development of the Eastern District. {{DEFAULTSORT:Eastern District Of Taipei Districts of Taipei Economy of Taipei Central business districts in Taiwan