A resplendent landmark if ever there was one, Taipei's Grand Hotel looks out over the city from a wooded hillside, gorgeous in scarlet pillars and a roof styled on Ming-dynasty design. It has hosted kings, American presidents and the shah of Iran - who brought his own goat's milk. The presidents of Paraguay and the Dominican Republic stayed there this year.
There are private guesthouses available for official visitors to the city. But, for palatial splendour, authorities in Taipei have nothing else that comes close to the immense, iconic Grand.
The hotel, completed in 1952, was an emblem par excellence of the ruling Kuomintang party. Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the wife of the ruling generalissimo, took a personal interest in its fortunes. So it's perhaps surprising to learn that, on September 28, 1986, liberal opposition politicians gathered there and defied the KMT's ban on all other political parties. They founded the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) - which today holds the reins of government.
The Grand Hotel is thought to have the largest lobby in the world - 45 metres by 35 metres. The cavernous chamber is decorated with marble from Hualien, on the east coast, and 42 crimson columns. It took 400 artists four months to paint the ceiling panels. Someone with lots of spare time once counted all the dragons depicted in the hotel - and came up with a total of 29,000.
Today's businessmen tend to prefer Taipei's more central, American-style hotels, so the Grand's prices have remained moderate. A recent bargain offer stood at US$95 for a room - though not with a view.
The duty manager this week showed me the first-floor room where the DPP was established. It was medium-sized, unused when I saw it, and its windows were shaded against the brilliant August light.