The area has a long history dating back to the Neolithic age. The city was part of the ancient state of Fuyu 2000 years ago, as well as the state of Bohai 1000 years ago. During much of the Qing era, an important military and administrative center, known as Boduna was located in the Songyuan area. In the late Qing, the administrative center moved to Xincheng - the name still preserved by the Xincheng Township of the Ninjiang District, in the part of the Songyan's central urbank area on the right bank of the Sungari. As of the early 20th century Xincheng was the capital of a prefecture within the then Jilin Province, and had the population of around 30,000. At the beginning of the 20th century, Sun Yat-sen proposed building a transportation hub where the Songhua River and the Nen River meet, which materialized as the current city of Songyuan. Authorized by the national government, Songyuan was founded as a prefecture-level city in 1992. Since then it has undergone rapid modernization, thanks in part to the area's profitable oil companies.