Former Taipei Mayor Huang Ta-chou assumed his new post Friday as chairman of the Grand Hotel, a distinctive Taipei landmark built in 1952 reportedly under Madame Chiang Kai-shek's directive and operated as a non-profit organization. Huang, who served as mayor of Taipei between 1990 and 1994, received the official seal of the Grand Hotel from acting Chairman Chen Tien-kuei, making him the 12th chairman of the prestigious hotel. Addressing the handover ceremony, which was organized by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Huang vowed to recover and represent the hotel's former grandeur. 'With the Grand Hotel's great tradition, it is essential for us to retain its grandeur, even though we need to face new challenges in running it,' Huang said. He said the hotel has contributed significantly over the past six decades in improving Taiwan's international image, cementing relations with other countries and nurturing talent in tourism for the country. Built to a Chinese architectural design with curving tiled roofs and red pillars, the hotel was built to impress foreign diplomats and the like in the absence of any five-star accommodations in the capital at that time. Situated on a hill overlooking Taipei City, the hotel is seen as an exemplar of modern Chinese architecture and iconography. 