Manga-themed murals decorating buildings and walls in Changhua County’s Haifonglun Village (海豐崙) were painted over to avoid copyright issues, mural project head Wu Chi-wei (吳奇偉) said on Sunday after the disappearance of many of the paintings sparked speculation among local residents.
The project grew out of his painting a friend’s property in 2014; after other residents said they liked what he had done, he began to paint the walls along the main roads in the village, Wu said.
The idea was to make something interesting and special for the village; the popularity with tourists was an unexpected, he said.
Photo: Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
The murals — which drew from Slam Dunk, KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops, One Piece and other series — brought tourists for a time, but the magic appeared to be wearing off, as visitor numbers had dropped to one-tenth of their peak level, he said.
Earlier this month, after discovering that many of the murals had begun to flake, he and other project participants decided to paint over the parts that could potentially cause trouble for copyright infringement, although there had been no lawsuits, he said.
Two-thirds of the mural spaces are now blank, but the artists are working on creating images that are more local and unique to the village and its Hakka heritage, he said.
That includes depicting the worship of Sanshan Guowang (三山國王, Lords of the Three Mountains) and Bumazhen (布馬陣) formation, a performance using a cloth horse, and parts will be painted by residents as a community project, Wu said.
The KochiKame mural near the Haifong police station will be the last to be replaced because it is a beloved local landmark, he said.
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