Picture this: the government plans to demolish your small village, which you’ve made your home for over 37 years. So, you know you have to do something to stop your government from destroying this village that means everything to you. 

Although this Grandpa was 97 years old when he saved his home from demolition, the Taiwanese government started threatening to knock it down since his late 80s. So, grandpa spent about 10 years making the necessary moves to keep his village safe.

Why was the government so eager to destroy grandpa’s home? And why was grandpa very reluctant to leave? The answer to both questions is simple—he was the only person left in the village.

When World War II broke out, over two million people sought refuge in Taiwan. To accommodate them, the Taiwanese government decided to build and keep the refugees in temporary homes. However, as the economy changed, the immigrants started leaving the temporary housing until only grandpa was left.

Grandpa’s name is Huang Yung-fu. He’s a China-born soldier who fought in the Sino-Japanese War and World War II against Mao Zedong’s Communist government. When his side, the Nationalists, lost the war, he had to flee with millions of others to Taiwan.

When the Taiwanese government announced its plans to pull down the village, Huang Yung-fu felt stranded and shocked. In his words to BBC, “When I came here, the village had 1,200 households and we’d all sit and talk like one big family. But then everyone moved away or passed away and I became lonely.”

Huang Yung-fu started to paint as a means of easing his suffering—and it worked. Science has proven over and over again that art in general, and coloring, in particular, can be therapeutic. Besides inducing a meditative state, coloring helps to relax the brain and quiet the mind.

Rainbow village is located in Nantun District, Taichung which had 1,200 homes at a time. As we mentioned already, the majority of the buildings in this District were occupied by retired soldiers who the government had allowed to live there temporarily.

Huang Yung-fu started by painting a tiny bird inside his bungalow when he woke up every morning. Later on, he took his work outside and started painting birds, cats, and people on the walls of the village’s vacant buildings.

As Huang Yung-fu took his work outside, he started expanding on the subjects of his painting. In his words, “I like painting images of girls.” From human caricatures, he began painting tigers and many other creatures with child-like features and such bright colors that the village soon became a small settlement of 11 rainbow-colored homes.

A student from a nearby university visited Huang Yung-fu’s village in 2010. Upon hearing his story, the student was moved to help him save his home. So, he took some shots of the village and began spreading the news about the paintings.

With more students from the local university hearing about Huang Yung-fu and his painting, his fears became public knowledge. He became widely known as “Rainbow Grandpa.”

Fortunately, the lobbying for Rainbow Village’s preservation was successful. Hu Zhiqiang, Taichung’s mayor at the time listened to his people and decided to transform the village into an art park to prevent any private developmental plans from taking shape.

Huang Yung-fu would have been satisfied with living in his village alone and continuing his painting. However, something as beautiful as what he created would naturally attract art lovers.

More than just being a sight for tourists, the village now makes significant revenue from it. Plus, some of the people who lobbied for its preservation, like Lin, now live and work full-time in the village.

Anyone seeing Huang Yung-fu’s paintings will naturally assume that he’s a professional painter. However, Huang Yung-fu never had any professional experience even though he started drawing as early as 3 years old.

Besides originating from his colorful paintings, “Rainbow Grandpa” also correctly describes Huang Yung-fu’s personality. He’s fun to be with and tourists love spending time with him.

Everyone can learn a lesson or two from Huang Yung-fu’s inspiring story. For us, it’s all about how powerful humans can be once dedicated to a course. If we passionately believe in our abilities and remain committed to achieving them, we’ll all make positive/significant changes in our society.

Many times, when we think about heroes, we imagine superhumans, or at the least, people who were courageous and selfless enough to sacrifice their lives for others. A classic example is Second Lieut. Lawrence Berkoff, a US airman who gave his life to save a village in Berkshire in 1944.

Maintaining Rainbow Village isn’t a small task as it requires lots of hard work. But Huang Yung-fu is dedicated to seeing that it thrives. As he gets older, he still puts enough effort into his paintings. According to him, he will continue drawing even in his 100s.

Even with Huang Yung-fu’s dedication and commitment to his work, the time is coming when he’ll no longer be able to keep up the pace. Regardless, his legacy will always live on, and everyone will continue to remember him as the veteran who saved a village from demolition.