96 Year Old Painter Saves Village With Colour

This is the inspiring story of a 96 year old man who began painting and eventually saved his village with colour and tourism.

In its hay-day, the Nantun District village was made up of about 1,200 homes. Most of the residents were former soldiers, who were given temporary housing by the government.

As time went on many of the soldiers moved away and various developers eagerly started buying up the land. Eventually, the village was home to only eleven houses.

Huang Yung-Fu

Living in one of them was Huang Yung-Fu, a 96-year-old former soldier who had lived been living there for over 37 years.

Although he loved his tiny village, there was little to do, and so he Huang Yung-Fu decided to teach himself to paint.

The first thing Huang painted was a bird on his wall. He found joy in painting as did others who saw his new works.

His village became a blank canvas, he painted the walls with colorful figures and creatures.

Huang’s unique create work quickly received a lot of attention, putting his tiny village on the map and becoming one of the most visited touristic attractions in Taichung.

The booming tourism made the government halt their plans to demolish the remaining houses in the village.

The painter is affectionately named the ‘Rainbow Grandpa’, and continues to paint. He admits it is hard work but he will continue to paint until even when he is 100.

He wakes up as early as 3 am to start painting.

This short video was created by BBC News.

If you are looking for more stories like this be sure to check out our Good News Section.

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