Wubei Village's iron window grilles go viral, sparking new questions for community tourism economy or local life

(Continued from previous article) Yi-wu is located in Kouhu Township in the southwestern corner of Yunlin County. The place name originates from the abundant production of yi-wu, a type of Chinese medicinal herb, and Wubei Village is located on the northern side of the settlement. As part of the Yunlin County Government's integration of the Kouhu Township regional revitalization plan, the county government launched the "Yi-wu Town Heart" cultural landscape improvement plan. Unexpectedly, the village became famous because of one part of the plan: the "iron window grilles" design.

After going viral online, the community eagerly hoped to ride this wave, yet it seemed to disrupt the life of this quiet little village. The influx of tourists created demand for services, but the village was not yet ready to welcome so many visitors. Villagers hoped to use this to boost the village's economic income, but the planning team assisting them believed that going viral was just an unexpected interlude, and that what mattered more was for villagers to regain a sense of local identity and a beautiful shared expectation for community life.

Wubei Village's stunning transformation, residents' confidence soaring

"In the past, when you saw news about Yi-wu, it was only flooding, typhoon damage, and miserable rescue scenes." Wang Chun-sheng, chairman of the Wubei Community Development Association, described Yi-wu's past gloom. "Outsiders might have taken a wrong turn or gotten lost and accidentally wandered in, and many people had never even heard of Yi-wu. Now it has become a popular attraction, influencers photograph our village beautifully, and the villagers' confidence has clearly risen."

Wang Chun-sheng observed that the village atmosphere had clearly changed, becoming more willing to accept new things. "Now tourists wander into the village from time to time looking for the iron window grilles. Some residents keep a close eye on passersby, and if they find someone who cannot locate the little swift or the iron window grilles, they will rush out the door and enthusiastically point the way."

For the sake of the village's image, residents began spontaneously tidying and cleaning the environment, and some even took the initiative to paint bright murals around their own homes. Although these are somewhat out of sync with the village surroundings, they still convey the villagers' desire for self-affirmation. "Many fellow townspeople living elsewhere saw that the village had gone viral and specially called back to praise it. The number of trips home to visit relatives increased, making many of the villagers who stayed behind feel very proud," Wang Chun-sheng said.

What was most moving was that some fellow townspeople who had lost contact for many years returned home. "Once a whole group came to visit. After chatting for a while, we discovered that one of them was actually the older sister of someone from this village, who had not come back for many years because of an old family rift. Now she brought a whole group back to see her hometown. It was truly unexpected," Wang Chun-sheng said emotionally.

Village chief: Tourists come and go, and it is a pity they leave empty-handed

However, village chief Li Shang-ying also mentioned a regret: "Seeing the crowds come and go, there is nowhere in the village to sit down. There is no drinks shop or cafe. When tourists leave, their hands are empty. That is a pity." Facing the crowds after going viral, what he thinks about is how to take the village's economic development into account.

So community association chairman Wang Chun-sheng decided to open a "Swift Little Shop," preparing to offer local agricultural products for tourists to see and buy. It is currently in intensive preparation.

"Our specialty sweet potatoes and garlic lack processing, so they cannot become souvenir gifts, and there is no one who can serve as a guide. It relies entirely on residents' enthusiastic service." Li Shang-ying hopes to boost local agricultural sales, but he also knows that "the village's overall development and the return of its population still have a long way to go."

The village chief's worry is also the community's dilemma after going viral. If it wants to provide services and sales to tourists, the current community simply does not have enough capacity to handle it. Another problem is that this wave of visitors is driven entirely by the internet. Once the hype cools down, how should the community move forward?

After this wave of viral attention, the village chief and community association chairman intend to open a community shop to develop a tourism economy, but Wang Chun-sheng also stressed, "The planning team has advised that this should be considered carefully, but even knowing it may lose money, the community must still take this path of economic development, otherwise it would be letting the villagers down."

Design team: Spatial improvement is for residents, not tourists

The team commissioned by the county government to improve Wubei Village is "Buffalo Design Tribe" from Tugou, Tainan. Its head, Lu Yao-chung (Xiao Hei), has nearly twenty years of experience participating in community building.

"We never expected the iron window grilles to be so popular. Perhaps netizens and the media really like them, but the iron window grilles are less than one-tenth of the entire project's results." Lu Yao-chung explained, "The main goal still returns to community life needs: improving living spaces in an aging community. Landscape beautification comes second, adding local stories to increase a sense of identity, and that is also how the iron window grille design came about." For the team, the users of spatial improvement are local residents, not tourists.

Lu Yao-chung candidly said that the entire project mainly took into account the needs of the community's elderly residents, from large matters such as "improving barrier-free spaces" to small ones such as "paving ditch covers" and improving temple courtyard steps by adding gentle ramps. These, in fact, were not seen by outsiders.

After going viral, should the community move toward a tourism economy or local life?

Lu Yao-chung believes that community building is about improving the village's living functions and sense of identity in a public way. Now there is an unexpected "industry" demand created by the viral crowds, but the process of industrialization requires "professional capability" and a "business model," which are not necessarily the community's priority right now.

As Wubei Community's fame rose, tourists entering the village's daily life actually also brought disruption. For example, the grandmother at the grocery store was frequently asked by tourists for photos. At first she greeted them warmly, but later she found it unbearable.

Recently, even the hospitable grandmother began rejecting tourists' requests for photos, and there was even an incident in which she mistakenly ate something given by a tourist and had to be sent to the hospital, which made the planning team very nervous for a while. "The village people actually have no obligation to provide services to outside tourists. For the village, the original pace of life has indeed been greatly disturbed," Lu Yao-chung believes.