Well, it's a lot more impressive than it was in 1957-1959 when I lived there.
IIRC, the two largest structures in the city were the MND building and the Grand Hotel. Chiang Kai Shek had a large secure home outside town on Grass Mountain.
At that time our suburb of Tien-Mou was a rural community several miles outside Taipei to the west of Grass Mountain. It was populated by a few hundred American military dependent families living in small "ranch-style" houses.
Our part of the neighborhood was called West Point Village - with about 20 houses. Our house was a small 3 bedroom stone ranch style with tile roof. Dad paid $125/month rent, which we thought was very high then (and was for the local natives). We had two live-in maids who were paid $30 & $20 per month, which was considered good money by the local people.
Our house backed up to a rice paddy with an old farmhouse that served as a family home and as a barn for the numerous pigs, chickens, and at least one water buffalo. Fertilizing time (with the "honey buckets") meant keeping the house windows closed.
Used to enjoy hiking across the rice paddy trails to climb up "Dog Head Mountain", really just a good sized hill topped by a rocky outcrop that looked like the profile of a dog's head.
We boys attended the old Taipei American school that was located downtown then. I understand it has moved twice since those days. There were about 200 American high school kids attending, along with a few dozen Chinese students. My brother actually attended a class reunion at the Grand Hotel about 10 years ago.
I wonder if there are any duck farmers remaining on the banks of the Tamsui River?
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