Rainbow Military Dependents` Village

Rainbow Military Dependents’ Village is renowned for the beautiful paintings that grace the walls of the buildings. All of the artworks are completed by veteran, Mr. Huang, who was born in Hong Kong and was a staunch anti-Communist in Mainland China. After the Kuomintang (KMT), the ruling party of R.O.C., lost the Chinese Civil War, he retreated to Taiwan with the KMT military and began living in this village permanently. In 2008, he came up with the idea of painting the walls of his village in various colors. Starting from his house, he gradually painted house by house until he had finished the whole block. There is no particular theme. Aircrafts, pandas, buffalos, birds or anything he finds in the newspapers have become inspiration for Mr. Huang.

The government program to demolish and replace military dependent’s villages throughout Taiwan meant that Rainbow Village should have been torn down years ago. However, when more and more artists and tourists began to come here to enjoy and photograph the art, the government was forced to preserve this village. Indeed, the Taichung mayor’s email box was jammed with thousands of petitions, many residents expressing their love for the place and their sadness that it was to be demolished. Eventually, it was agreed that the village would be saved, and it has now became one of the most popular tourist attractions in Taichung. If you come at the right time, you may also be lucky enough to see someone in an Iron Man mask performing music for you. We urge you to support him and Mr. Huang in enlivening Rainbow Village by giving it a visit yourself.