Rainbow Village
image source-YouTube
RainbowVillage
When we say Rainbow, we paint our mind with vibrant hues. The title itself is an ambiguous idea, thats how a village is named as Rainbow Village. Does this village offer the mind-numbing sight of Rainbow? No, these all ideas are not clear. This Rainbow Village is located in the Nantun district of Taichung, Taiwan. The village is an amalgamation of vivid small single story houses located amid tall and dull buildings. The village came to be known as Rainbow Village because the creator of this village Mr. Huang Yung-Fu has transformed the houses of this small village by painting it with different colors stemming from the whole spectrum of the rainbow.Also read:-The First Game of Thrones-themed ice hotel in the worldHistory of Rainbow Village
In Taiwan, small Veteran villages are scattered in some areas. The houses in these villages are made up of low-cost material. Generally, these houses are meant to provide the accommodation to the Kuomintang soldiers, and their families, after they retreated from Mainland China. Rainbow Village in Taichung. In the last two decades these villages have been disappearing, one by one. The Government has handed the land to building companies. The building companies promised to provide new apartments to the families of surviving Veterans. The houses were already torn down by the Government.Huang Yung-fu is the last resident of the village. One day he started to paint the empty and dying village. He started painting animals, dolls, airplanes with vibrant colors. Each and every wall and alleys were painted. Ling Tung University students discovered the paintings of the village. This university is located near the Village. The university students protested against the demolishing of the village. The painted murals became the attraction of the tourists. After the protest and the rising popularity of the village, the Government postponed the demolishing of the village.How to Reach Rainbow Village
To get to the Rainbow Village, travelers can take buses number 27 and 40 from Taichung Train Station to Lin Tung University; fares range around 40 NTD (approximately 1.30 USD). From there, walk straight along Lingdong Road toward the south for about 5 minutes. Taxi is also another option for those who dont have a lot of time, but the cost would depend on your starting point and would be more expensive than the bus fare.
image source-Nick Kembel
Attractions of the Rainbow Village
Do not expect the Rainbow village as a fairy tale village. It is an ordinary village with a lot of extraordinary paintings by a 93-year-old military veteran. When the Government sent the letters to the villagers asking them to evacuate, he might have taken the money and left the village. But in order to save his own village, which, he called as his real home in Taiwan, he put down his knees to paint the empty village and made possible the survival of the old veteran village.Also read:-Being a Vegetarian in ChinaToday also he wakes up at 3:00 am in the morning and starts his painting. He spends four hours every day daubing the walls of the small settlement with colorful figures, from birds and animals to celebrity singers and sportsmen. His artwork has kept the village safe as the surrounding area has been flattened. Due to his colorful paintings all over the village, he is popularly known as Rainbow Grandpa. His knee bandages are bruised due to spending too much time kneeling on the ground to paint.However, he is still continuing his effort by adding vibrant murals that decorate the walls and pathways of the veterans village or Juan cun as a way to ensure its survival.Huang has lived in this village for 37 years and continued even his neighbors abandoned their homes and only 11 houses remained. That is when he decided to paint. He had learned painting from his father when he was only five years old.
image source-The Telegraph
image source-taichung.guide
