Taichung Rainbow Village – Rainbow Grandfather’s Colourful Mural Art

Taichung is probably not as high up on the list of must-visit Taiwanese cities compared to Taipei or Kaohsiung. Many visitors only come to Taichung because it is the gateway to popular tourist destinations like Cing Jing Nantou as well as Sun Moon Lake. That is a pity because Taichung is Taiwan’s cultural centre. Besides the well-known National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and annual outdoor jazz festival every October, the city is also home to the famous Taichung Rainbow Village – a small village with gorgeous painted murals all over its walls. If you are into mural art and picture-perfect hotspots, you must not miss this colourful Instagram-friendly village.

Taichung Rainbow Village – Artistic Protest For Conservation

When Chiang Kai Shek’s Chinese Nationalist Party retreat to Taiwan in the late 1940s, they brought along more than two million people including soldiers and their families. To provide accommodations for this huge population, Military Dependents’ villages were rapidly constructed all over Taiwan. Most of these villages were really tiny and badly constructed. The worst part is that these residents were unable to hold ownership rights as they are staying on state property. Over the years, many of these villages get abandoned or deteriorated into slums for the ageing population over the years. The old postboxes used by those who used to reside in the village still remains.

In the 1990s, the government embarked on an aggressive village demolition programme to recover the often prime space occupied by these villages. To fend off the government claims to his village, Mr Huang Yong-Fu came up with a artistic way to say no. Popularly referred to as the Rainbow Grandfather, this military veteran started painting colourful murals all over his home, as well as the gates around it and the walkways. He splashed the village with bright colours and painted very random and imaginative figures including plants, animals, monsters, celebrities and traditional cultural heroes.

Students from the nearby Ling-Tung University noticed his works, took pictures and shared them online. These photos went viral and Rainbow Village soon became a tourist destination. Visitors generously donated and showed their support for the by-then almost 90-year-old artist. His artistic protest, fortunately, gained sufficient sympathy from around the country to stop Taichung mayor’s plans for demolition and rescued the village. Today, some residents still stay in the village.

Taichung Rainbow Village – Exploring The Art Space 

Instead of jostling with the crowd, we arrived much later at around 5pm when the sun was about to set. Armed with a DSLR which was able to capture imagery at low light, it was the perfect time to visit the village as we practically had the entire village to ourselves. Even the guard has called it a day!

Should you visit at a high peak period, you are reminded to walk in an orderly manner through the village narrow walkways and keep your volume low as families still reside in the village.

Here is a photo of the corridor to help you visualise how narrow some of the walkways were. Capturing a good photo without people in the background would be tough at peak hours.

We always love corners as they provide interesting light angles and depth. We hope to manage your expectation that this is not a village with large compound, the entire place can be covered (without crowd) in less than fifteen minutes.

If you come during the ‘official’ opening hours, you may be able to catch a glimpse of the legendary Rainbow Grandfather, Mr Huang.

Souvenir shops would also be opened and as what this signage state – you can walk in for a nice ice-cream!

We read from other blogs that if you are lucky you may even meet a performing artist wearing an Iron Man mask.

We only encountered one family that is still living in the village.

The village does become dead quiet and eerie once night falls.

The final portion of the village comprises a small children playground.

Definitely, an interesting visit but this would probably be one of those places where you will only visit once in a lifetime. If your purpose is to fill your Instagram feed with amazing photos, come during the low peak periods but if you wish to see Mr Huang in person or see the village buzzing with activities, come during the ‘official’ hours. If you are ever in Taichung, we recommend that you come visit the village, spend some time appreciating Mr Huang’s mural arts and donate generously to keep Rainbow Village alive!

Taichung Rainbow Village

Address: Taimao 5th Vil., Nantun Dist., Taichung City 408, Taiwan (R.O.C.) | Opening Hours (Official): 8am – 6pm | Tel: 886-4-22289111 | Fees: Nil but feel free to buy some souvenirs or donate to Mr Huang for his works