Overseas, dining out at a restaurant is a big event, and the location and decor are at least half the experience. High-class Chinese restaurants overseas are often as grand as royal palaces. The decor of surprisingly many is the work of the China Palace Art and Painting Company, of Taiwan. (courtesy of Peter Sung) (courtesy of Peter Sung)

Chinese, French and Italian cooking are three of the world's great cuisines, and the Chinese in particular, whenever they go abroad, are sure to fit several Chinese meals into their trip. With Chinese emigration and the rise of overseas tourism in Taiwan, more and more Chinese restaurants have opened around the world. But among the patrons busily stuffing themselves with Peking duck and sweet-and-sour spare ribs, do any take the time to wonder where these fancy restaurants get their sumptuous palace-style decor, with its carved beams and painted columns, and whether the designers and decorators are Chinese?

Few people are aware that in many Chinese restaurants overseas, almost every item of decor, from the paneled ceilings and intricately carved wooden ornamental windows to the floral-medallion-pattern carpet and the lions outside the door, is the work of Taiwan's China Palace Art and Painting Company, owned and managed by the Sung family, and that most of these items were handmade in Taiwan before being shipped out by the container load. Behind this fact, there is a goodly portion of cultural tenacity and pride, as well as a unique eye for a business opportunity and a remarkable sales achievement.

When one talks of Chinese architecture, what people are probably most familiar with is multi-layered dougong block-and-bracket structures under flying eaves, and vermilion pillars supporting square-paneled "caisson" ceilings painted with dragon-and-phoenix designs in gold, green and a rainbow of other colors-the "palatial" style. This style can be found everywhere, from Taipei's Grand Hotel, National Museum of History, National Palace Museum and Chungshan Hall, to the ceremonial arches and sumptuous restaurants of overseas Chinatowns. And the spread of this Chinese architectural style has carried the business of the China Palace Art and Painting Company, established over 40 years ago, from Taiwan to "everywhere in the world where there are Chinese."