Painted murals leave public gasping with amazement

In the absence of any kind of painting background, in May 2014, residents of Xingang Township in Chiayi began a comprehensive makeover of their local village Beilun. In a short period of only 3 months, through the encouragement of painting activities, the village has already amassed dozens of murals and has now become known as ‘Frog Mural Village.’ The village’s growing reputation has been attracting countless tourists, which averages around 200 on weekdays, and in excess of 1,000 on weekends. 

Director-General of Beilun Village Development Association, Wang Guo-Zheng (王國正) and Beilun Village Mayor, Chen Su-Qing (陳素卿) stated that the idea for the village mural project was in direct response to a serious population outflow. With around half of the village houses lying empty and the place looking rather abandoned, a decision was made to embark on a project that would brighten up the environment and enliven the village community through enlisting the help of the community’s grandpas and grandmas as volunteers.

Even though it was the first time that most of the elderly volunteers had picked up a paintbrush, they quickly developed a keen interest and now painting seems to have taken over from gardening – it is not uncommon to see them working hard under the blistering heat of the midday sun. Many of painting volunteers – which number dozens – are already in their 60s, 70s and 80s. 

Painted murals leave public gasping with amazement 

URL:https://www.peopo.org/news/255401

(以下是中文對照)

嘆為觀止的彩繪潛力 影音

完全沒有繪畫背景的，嘉義縣新港鄉北崙村的村民，自103年5月起全體投入美化、活化北崙村的彩繪活動，短短三個多月，現在已有數十幅，成為名符其實的「青蛙彩繪村」，已吸引了不少遊客慕名而來，平日就有200人次左右，假日更高達1,000多人次以上。

嘉義縣新港鄉北崙社區發展協會王國正理事長與北崙村陳素卿村長表示，彩繪村子的創意，原先是因為村子人口外流，村內房子近半已無人居住，形如荒廢，所以想用彩繪來美化環境、活化村子，召集阿公阿媽當義工。那知這些以前沒有拿過畫筆的阿公阿媽，卻畫出興趣來，現在畫圖比種田、種菜重要，大熱天日正當中，大家都還在打拚。目前彩繪義工有數十位，有的已年過六十、七十歲，甚至八十歲以上。