Since Taiwan was colonized by the Spanish, Dutch and Fukinese starting in the 1600s it has been a source for wood. By the time of the Japanese period(1895-1945) the lumber had been used up. So like many countries that have exhausted it's lumber supply, Taiwan's major building material is concrete. Cement is actually just the binder and with the aggregate and water, the final product is conrete.
The major cement trade organization is along ZhongShan North Road. I thought it was strange that the Cement Hall would be built of granite, but I think it is just concrete made to look like granite. (The texture is just too uniform to be real granite.)
But concrete is a more flexible material than stone, something like Taipei 101 couldn't be built without concrete.
But cement cost money so it's worthwhile to use some large aggregate to minimize the amount of cement/concrete needed.
And it can be molded and painted to look like the bamboo and wood that it replaced.
So we've come full circle.
Interesting! In Tucson, not many building exteriors are wood. Wood dries out and termites feast on it, so it isn't used as much. Come to think of it, in the newer townhouses in Seattle, the siding is imitation wood. I'm not complaining--it should last a lot longer.
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