To conclude with this blog, i wan't to speak about a mystery around the tallest building in Tawain the 101 tower.

When it comes to talking about tall buildings, for me a perfectly natural question is an enquiry as to what sits at the top of said tallest buildings

Taipei 101 is arguably Taiwan’s most well-known global tourist marker and definitely ranks up there in terms of tourist visits island-wide.

 Yet whilst much is known about the buildings layout and it’s office space between the ground floor shopping mall and outdoor observation deck on the 91st floor – virtually nothing is known about what sits above the observation deck.

 Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

 The 101st floor is home to a private VIP club named Summit 101, according to the observatory brochure. No information about this club has ever been made public.

 The 101st floor is also divided into three levels: 101F (lower), 101MF (mezzanine) and 101RF (roof). It is not known what is actually on these levels, or whether the VIP club actually exists, except that 101RF provides access to the 60-metre tall spire, which has 24 levels (numbered R1 through R24) that can only be accessed via ladder.

 The 92nd through 100th floors are officially designated as communication floors, although it’s unknown if there are any radio or TV stations currently broadcasting from the top of Taipei 101.

 The 91st floor observatory is the highest floor that is open to the public , but unlike the leased/private floors from 7~90F, there is no sign of even a visible access point to the topmost floors on Level 91.

The top 10 floors have never been mentioned anywhere outside of the observatory brochure.

Here’s a Taipei 101 map sourced from Flickr member SkylineGTR that clearly shows the hidden elevator exists to access the above floors:

 The explanation that floors 92-100 are ‘communication floors’ I guess are acceptable, but what’s with no information about who is up there broadcasting or in what capacity??

 This from a country whose media love to expose any scandal they can find, no matter how trivial, by barging into people’s private lives armed with a dozen news cameras…

But getting back to  101… as far as I can tell the only recorded existence of this place comes from a fireworks engineer who was part of the team that put on the 2011 NYE Taipei 101 fireworks.

A taiwainese bloger, writes

Later on in the day I finally got an excuse to head up to the top of the building, Floor 101RF – even higher than the observation deck the general public has access to.

 The only place you can view that is higher is the top of the spire, but at this point the height difference isn’t so much greater that the view could be considered any better IMO, so I was content with just getting up to 101.

An other one asked,

Just curious…what are floors 92-101R actually used for? When I first visited the observatory in 2005, the brochure said that there was a private VIP club named “Summit 101″ on the top floor.

The 2010 brochure removed any mention of this private club, and floors 92-101 have become “communication floors.” Are there really radio/TV stations broadcasting from up there?

What became of the VIP club?

And the previous bloger replied,

Well I can confirm the club is still there, I had some VIPs ride up in the elevator with me as I was traveling towards the top on New Years Eve.

When the doors opened I could see a club room. I’m sure there are broadcasting equipment in the higher floors, that makes sense.

Unfortunately I never had time to really explore much so that’s really all I know

And that , apart from a brochure no longer in print (which I was not able to track down a photo of), is the only recorded evidence to date that Summit 101 club even exists.

But, last week, i saw  Rebar Housing real estate agents (English) mention this on their website:

outside the 101 building designed for VIP meeting room rental.

They don’t mention who you rent this ‘meeting room’ from though (the building’s owners?).

Apart from the bloger limited experience above, there appears to be no written information about the Summit 101 club in English anywhere.

Seriously, every year thousands of people must visit Taipei 101 and each new years eve nearly a million people in person (and who knows how many more else on TV) flock to Taipei’s Xinyi District to stare directly at the top of Taipei 101… yet nobody knows what’s up there or has thought to ask?

How do you keep a secret club secret when it’s situated at the top of the tallest building, which is in the capital city of one of the world’s most densely populated countries for nearly a decade?!

Come on guys, somebody has to know just what is up there!

But finally, the mystery of what is up on Taipei 101’s 101st floor has been solved. Whether or not it’s called Summit 101 or not I don’t know, but the building’s management have decided to open up the 101st floor (which indeed is a club) to shoppers who spend $30,000+ USD in a day at the 101 mall.

 In the past the space was used to entertain visiting Presidents and “important foreign visitors” to Taiwan.

Firstable, if you wan't to know the geopolitics of a country, let me introduce you to Taiwain with the geography, demography and the history of this beautiful country.

GEOGRAPHY

Distance from the Chinese mainland, 150 km.

The tropic of cancer runs through Taiwan, with subtropical climate in the North and tropical climate in the South. 60% of the area is covered by the Central Mountain Range (highest peak is Yushan 3.997 m). Only scarce mineral resources.

 DEMOGRAPHY

 Population of about 23 million (7 million in Taipei city), more than 70% originate from Fujian (simply "Taiwanese"). 10% originate from Guangdong (South of China ). 2% aborigines. 15% mainland refugees and their offspring. 

HISTORY

Originally inhabited by aboriginal people of Malay-Polynesian descent, Taiwan has been under the control of numerous different nations over the years

Let me explain you the history of Taiwain with the 4 major dates of is history.

1624 – The Dutch, observing no signs of Chinese imperial rule, gain control of Taiwan and establish a colony with some settlements and forts. With the Dutch come Chinese laborers who eventually settle and marry aboriginal wives.

1662 – Cheng Cheng-Kung from the Ming Dynasty in Taiwain, better known as Koxinga, ousts the Dutch out of Taiwan and vows to reinstate the Ming Dynasty in Mainland China. The ensuing period, is one of a corrupt Chinese government and of rebellions, leading to the phrase “Every three years an uprising, every five years a rebellion”

Koxinga, Emperor (Dynasty Ming, Taiwain)

1895 – China cedes Taiwan to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki following the Sino-Japanese War. The Taiwanese initially oppose Japanese rule and declare themselves an independent republic; however, the Japanese military easily puts down the rebellion. Japanese rule is harsh, but not corrupt. Treating Taiwan almost like a province, Japan builds a strong educational system that teaches all Taiwanese students the Japanese language, while also improving infrastructure, trains, roads, and industry.

N.B: That explain why taiwainese people are so respectful,polite and rigorous. It's also the safest country in the world. 

Treaty of Shimonoseki

1945 – After being defeated during World War Two, Japan leave the control of Taiwan. China places Taiwan temporarily under the control of Chiang Kai-Shek and the Kuomintang (KMT) Nationalist party. When the Communists take control of mainland China, the Nationalists flee to Taiwan and the “temporary” control becomes permanent.

Chiang Kai-Shek

TAIWAIN GEOPOLITICS TODAY

Official designation: "Republic of China", capital: Taipei, official language: Mandarin Chinese, currency: "New Taiwan Dollar" (NT$).

President: CHEN Shuibian Prime Minister: YÜ Shyi-kun.

Ruling party: DPP ("Democratic Progressive Party": "Minzhu Jinbu Dang") 

Main opposition party: Kuomintang  (KMT, ie "National People's Party") 

After these many influences suffered in recent years. Taiwain has a very complex geopolitical situation.

Firstable, relationships with China are terrible. Taiwain wants his independnace while China believes that this island belongs to them. Moreover, the ideologies of the two countries are very different. Even if since few years, China and Taiwan's relationship has improved greatly.

Also there is an other major geopilitic problem on these island; Taiwan and the UN. Taiwain is not recognize as a "country" for the United Nation. Let me tell you why;

From the 1960s onward, nations friendly to the PRC (China), especially those with communist influences, started to lobby for the PRC to occupy the China seat the UN, as part of the One-China policy, which states that countries seeking diplomatic relations with the PRC must break official relations with the ROC and vice versa. In other words, there can only be one legitimate China.

For much of that decade, the United States was able to assemble the majority votes to block resolutions intended to expel the ROC. However, as more and more newly-independent developing nations began to join the UN, the Western dominance of the General Assembly gradually weakened. On October 25, 1971, the resolution passed and the ROC was forced to abdicate its seat to the PRC. By November 23, 1971, the ROC as a political name had lost all representation in the United Nations.