Sun Moon Lake Hanbi Lou (The Lalu Historic Site)

Hanbi Lou (涵碧樓) is commonly said to have begun as a modest wooden vacation villa built in 1901 by a Japanese businessman named Itō on the scenic Hanbi Peninsula jutting into Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan's Nantou County, but this account is unconfirmed; period records indicate that the inn was built by the Taiwan Government-General for the 1916 Taiwan Industrial Exhibition and opened on April 15, 1916. The name "涵碧" (Hanbi, meaning "embracing jade-green") was bestowed by the journalist and editor Sasaki Shōzan, who visited the property in May 1916 and was inspired by the emerald waters of the lake surrounding the peninsula.

The building is often associated with the 12-day tour of colonial Taiwan made in April 1923 by Crown Prince Hirohito (later Emperor Shōwa). It is said to have been prepared as a lodging for the imperial visit, but the documented itinerary of the tour did not include Sun Moon Lake and the Crown Prince did not stay there. In September 1928 the inn was rebuilt on a low hill slightly to the north as a two-story building of Japanese cypress from Baxianshan, with a single-story annex added in 1929. It served as the principal lodging for officials and dignitaries visiting the lake — Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko stayed there in June 1937 — and Sun Moon Lake's reputation as one of Taiwan's premier scenic destinations grew.

Following Japan's defeat in 1945 and the Nationalist government's retreat to Taiwan in 1949, Hanbi Lou was converted into President Chiang Kai-shek's private vacation retreat. Chiang frequently used the property for rest and for hosting foreign heads of state and dignitaries. During this period the building was enlarged in 1957, and in February 1966 the original Japanese structure was demolished and replaced by a four-story modern building, erasing its colonial-era appearance.

The old building was wrecked in the devastating 921 Earthquake (Chi-Chi Earthquake) of September 21, 1999, and was demolished in 2000. The Hsiang-Lin Development Group had acquired the operating rights of the adjacent Hanbi Lou hotel in 1998 for about NT$300 million. After a NT$1.86 billion reconstruction designed by acclaimed Australian architect Kerry Hill in a minimalist Zen aesthetic, the completely rebuilt hotel opened on March 3, 2002, as The Lalu Sun Moon Lake — one of Asia's most celebrated luxury hotels.

A small memorial hall (涵碧樓紀念館) within the hotel grounds preserves the site's rich history, displaying artifacts and photographs from both the Japanese colonial and Chiang Kai-shek eras. The memorial features exhibits on Hirohito's 1923 visit and the building's transformation across Taiwan's turbulent 20th-century history.