Free Republic

It resembles a giant bamboo shoot, can carry people more than a kilometre skyward in less than 40 seconds, and yesterday it was officially declared the world's tallest building. The 508 metre tall building in Taipei's Hsinyi district is 56 metres taller than the previous record holder, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. The opening of Taipei 101 - a reference to the number of floors - was attended by local dignitaries keen to bask in the glory of one of Asia's most ambitious engineering projects ever. As an opera company entertained the crowd, the world's fastest passenger lifts whisked...