a veteran of the Chinese Civil War,
and this is where he lives, Rainbow Village, in Nantun District, Taichung, Taiwan. photo by
SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images,
this is just one of the many villages that were set up by the
government and were erected between the 1940s and 1950s for Taiwanese veterans returning
from mainland China, these villages were cheaply built and were intended as
temporary settlements for to the Kuomintang soldiers, this
specific village was home to 1,200 people, but like many of the veteran
villages it started to gradually die out, as residents moved away the investors
started to buy the land piece by piece,
but then a transformation started taking place,
it all
began when Yung-Fu started to paint the interior of his home with colorful
birds, when he stood back to admire the results he took his art outside,
a few years
ago, students of Ling Tung University discovered these amazing pieces of art, gradually, the village started to attract attention both from people living in
Taichung and from tourists coming from abroad, the fact
that the village started to become a tourist attraction and the protest of the
locals supported by all the people enamored by Yung-Fu’s art deterred the
Taiwanese government from demolishing it,
nowadays,
the Rainbow Village only has 11 houses left and a small number of people still
living there,
but it has gained almost world wide status as the Rainbow Village,
all thanks to one man, the
entrance to this magical place is free, as of recently there is a small
souvenir shop selling unique handmade goods based on the Rainbow Grandpa’s
artwork and run by his grandson, what a remarkable village Huang
Yung-Fu has created.
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