and was completed at the end of 1948, looking only slightly different from the original building. Since the timing of the restoration's completion coincided with the 60th birthday of President Chiang Kai-shek, it was renamed Chieh Shou Hall. ("Chieh Shou" means "Long live Chiang Kai-shek".) Beginning in mid-1949, the building served as the southeast military affairs office and, following the retreat of the ROC central government from mainland China to Taiwan, it became the Office of the President in 1950. In 2006 the name Chieh Shou Hall was dropped. The structure is officially referred to in English simply as the Presidential Office Building. It was previously known as the Presidential Palace. Chronology 1895: The Qing dynasty cedes Taiwan to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Japanese rule begins in the island. 1906: First stage of design competition for the Governor-General's Office. 1910: Final stage of design competition; Uheiji Nagano's design selected. 1912: Construction of the Governor-General's Office begins. 1915: Beam-raising ceremony. 1919: Completion. 1945: Heavily damaged by Allied forces on May 31. Japan surrenders its troops. 1947: Restoration by the Taiwan Provincial Government of the Republic of China begins. 1948: Restoration completed. Building named Chieh Shou Hall in honor of President Chiang Kai-shek. 1950: Building houses Office of the President after the ROC lost control of mainland China. 1987: President Chiang Ching-kuo signs decree ending martial law in reception room (July 15). 1990: Lee Teng-hui receives fifty Wild Lily student demonstrators and pledges democratic reforms (March 21). 1996: Lee Teng-hui inaugurated as the first popularly elected President of the Republic of China. 1998: Building declared a historic national monument by Ministry of the Interior. 2000: Chen Shui-bian is elected the first non-KMT President of the Republic of China since the end of martial law. 2006: Chen Shui-bian formally drops the name Chieh Shou Hall. 2008: Term of Chen Shui-bian expires; newly elected President Ma Ying-Jeou sworn in. 2014: A truck slammed into the main gate of the Presidential Office Building. 2015: A replica of the Presidential Office Building was seen during the People's Liberation Army routine exercise in Inner Mongolia. 2017: A man attacked the building guard with sword stolen from the Republic of China Armed Forces Museum. Architecture The Presidential Office Building occupies the city block between Chongqing South Road and Bo'ai Road in downtown Taipei. It is designed in the shape of two squares stretching from Baoqing Road