One of the World’s Most Colorful Places Is in Taiwan
Rainbow Family Village shows there’s nothing a man with a paintbrush can’t do
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What could be cheerier than a rainbow? The perky hues of Roy G. Biv are enough to make anyone smile—especially Huang Yung-Fu. Armed with a paintbrush and a love of vibrant color, the 93-year-old transformed his Taiwanese burg into a living rainbow, and saved his town in the process.
As the AFP reports, Yung-Fu, who is now known as “the Rainbow Grandpa,” watched as developers bought up the run-down properties and paid his neighbors to move out, leaving only a handful of original residents in the Nantun district of Taichung, Taiwan.
Yung-Fu’s home is actually a military dependents’ village—a common phenomenon found throughout Taiwan. These villages are a legacy of the Chinese Civil War, in which Kuomintang (KMT) nationalists fought against the Chinese Communist Parties. When Mao Zedong created the People’s Republic of China in 1949, KMT members fled to Taiwan. As Li Jiang reports for Sina English, they and their families were housed in these villages. Though the living situation was meant to be temporary, the homes became permanent residences.
Antsy in his mostly empty village, Yung-Fu picked up a paintbrush and painted his house bright colors. Then he painted another one. Soon, he had turned the entire village into a psychedelic rainbow painting.
When some students realized what Yung-Fu had done, they alerted authorities, who stopped demolition in the village, reports the AFP. Now his home has become one of Taiwan’s most popular tourist destinations—and a testament to the power of one man, a paintbrush and some in-your-face colors.
“Rainbow Family Village,” as it is now known, is just outside of Taichung, and it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen on this planet.
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