Thread by @JeromeTaylor

Many of Taiwan's villages are devoid of young people, often leaving the elderly feeling lonely.

In this amazing "graffiti village", local artist Wu Tsun-hsien is drawing crowds back.

@changphotog, @samafp & I enjoyed reporting this for @AFP.

Article: u.afp.com/JhkA

Dipping his brush into a tin of beige emulsion, Wu, carefully applies new layers of paint to his latest production -- a vibrant rural scene depicting farmers in traditional weave hats tending to a flock of animals.

"These drawings attracted many tourists to come visit," the 55-year-old artist explained. "The old people who were left here are no longer so bored. This was my biggest gain."

Like many industrialised places, Taiwan's remarkable economic transformation over the past few decades has upended rural communities and unleashed huge demographic changes -- although as Shelley Rigger explained to me, this happened later in Taiwan than many other places

There are now some half a dozen so-called "graffiti villages" in Taiwan that have been festooned with artwork in a bid to inject some life into rural places that have been emptied of its young.

(Photo by me)

What really struck me about the Wu -- and their village Ruan Chiao, near Hsinchu -- is he wasn't doing the paintings to make cash.

It was to give older folk -- specifically his parents-in-law -- some people to talk to

(Photo by me)

"They want to have conversations with people, that's what they miss, it's not about money," Wu's wife Fan Ai-hsiu explained.

(Photo by me)

When we visited, Fan's parents Fan Yu-jung, 81, and Cheng Hsiu-niang, 72, were still working the fields above the house, growing an amazing assortment of organic vegetables

(Photos by me)

Vegetables like these — oh and eggs boiled in a secret family herb recipe 🤤🤤🤤

During our visit some younger tourists from Taipei arrived. They had heard about the graffiti village on social media. The Wu family insisted we all eat together. It was a lovely sight to behold, the art drawing in visitors, inspiring conversation

Wu’s paintings are a riot, many detailing his politics. He believes not enough is being done to counter climate change, thinks Taiwan is far too attached to consumer items and their mobiles (he may have a point there!)

If anyone wants to know more about the Wu family and Ruan Chiao village, this is their Facebook page where they put up lots of public posts, including shots of pesky @AFP journos papping them 😄

facebook.com/profile.php?id…

So if you're in the Hsinchu region, pop in on them.

In the meantime a big thanks to Wu and his family for letting us tell their story from @AFP's Taiwan team

@AFP "Taiwan has many graffiti villages that are beautiful scenic spots where people would leave after taking pictures. But I realized when I came here that every mural here is depicting a social problems faced by society," Evelyn Sun, 25, told us.

Video by @AFP's @changphotog