From the rooftop of my apartment building in Taiwan, Taipei 101 (pictured) blinks reassuringly in the distance, hovering just above the hills. Some nights it glows blue and gold in its upper reaches; other nights it’s green and purple. I’ve whiled away hours on the building’s fourth floor, home to the city’s best English bookstore, and spent New Year’s Eve watching fireworks explode around the skyscraper’s edges. The spectacle is guaranteed to net Taiwan much-coveted global exposure on CNN. The world’s tallest building is always within sight, but I didn’t realize I held such affection for the place until I read Saturday that the Burj Dubai had unofficially stolen Taipei 101’s towering thunder. Taiwanese have long known the day would come; still, I felt my stomach drop.

According to the AP, construction on the Burj Dubai—a $1 billion colossus that is rising at a pace of one story every three days—has hit 1,680 feet, giving it the edge over Taipei 101, which has held the record at 1,667 feet since its completion three years ago.

When the Burj tops out in late 2008—at a final height yet to be disclosed—it will claim the “tallest” title with a list of amenities sure to make it a tourist draw: “more than 160 floors, 56 elevators, luxury apartments, boutiques, swimming pools, spas, exclusive corporate suites, Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani’s first hotel, and a 124th floor observation platform,” according to the AP.

Great news for Dubai, but how will Taipei 101 handle its demotion? It seems the building’s management is already targeting a new audience. It just announced 101 will begin offering high-end wedding packages, with the option of broadcasting marriage proposals on a sky-high signboard for a cool $91,000.

Taiwanese friends are putting a good face on the news, but Taipei 101 has meant more than they let on. For three years, it’s been an important bragging right on an island that doesn’t even count as a nation to much of the world.

Some had predicted that the Shanghai World Financial Center—another candidate for the world’s tallest building—would eclipse 101 before the Burj made its move. No dice. For Taiwan, that’s partial consolation: from Taiwan’s perspective, better Dubai than Shanghai, for now.

Related on World Hum:
* Dubai World Buys Queen Elizabeth 2
* ‘The Cultures That Produced Dubai and Las Vegas Surely Must Have Something in Common’

Photo by http2007 via Flickr, (Creative Commons).