Are you the kind of person who loves to live in one place versus moving around? It seems to be the case with this 97-year old grandpa.
He settled upon a village in Taiwan and has been there for about 40 years. But that was all about to change when the government decided to tear it down. However, what saved this village is quite remarkable.
Huang Yung-fu or, “Rainbow Grandpa”, as he is now affectionately known as was originally born in China.
He even fought in the Sino-Japanese War and World War II as part of the Nationalist Party over Mao Zedong’s Communist government.
When the Nationalists lost the war, he had to flee to Taiwan.
Together with many others like him, he settled in a makeshift village. The village actually served as a place for the members of the military and their families.
It was only supposed to be a temporary village.
However, that didn’t end up being the case. About 1,200 households settled there, but slowly over the years, people started moving away. Others ended up passing away or leaving, Huang Yung-fu was the only person left.
As you can imagine, that must’ve gotten pretty lonely for him.
So to cope with his sadness and sorrow, he started painting. And he turned to art to ease his suffering. First, he painted a small bird on his bungalow.
Then, he painted over other buildings in the village.
He continued with cats, birds, and some people that began flowing across the vacant buildings in the village. It now looked like an elaborate art project. Isn’t that so creative and amazing?
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He soon received the shock of this life when the government threatened to tear down his village to build a more modern apartment complex.
After all, he was the only remaining resident there. Thankfully, a local university student vowed to help the old gentleman.
When the curious student heard the story of Huang Yung-fu’s life and realized how beautiful the village art was, he sprang into action.
He took photos of the village and created a fundraising campaign to help to save the place.
As you can imagine, the story quickly went viral, and people started flocking to the village to see the beautiful art he created.
Huang Yung-fu and his village captured the heart of the nation, and that’s how he got the nickname of “Rainbow Grandpa.”
The village has became a huge draw for tourists from around the world.
Now the Rainbow Village actually receives about a million visitors per year. Needless to say, the government changed its mind and won’t be tearing it down. Isn’t this the sweetest story you’ve heard in a long time?
h/t My Modern Met
