Five-Year Checkup on Rural Regeneration, Part 1: Why Is Everyone Interested in Construction Projects?

In recent years a wave of painted-wall art has swept across rural Taiwan. Red-brick traditional three-sided courtyard houses adorned with Totoro, Hello Kitty, and Slam Dunk characters have become tourist spots where visitors snap photos, yet they have also been criticized for copyright infringement and for having no local connection. Much of the budget for this unusual Taiwan-Japan cultural exchange comes from the "Rural Regeneration Fund."

In 2010, the was passed amid controversy, with a planned NT$150 billion fund over 10 years, "to promote rural revitalization and regeneration in an orderly and planned manner, looking after more than 4,000 farming and fishing villages and 600,000 farming and fishing households across Taiwan." The first phase (fiscal years 2012-2015) has now ended, and the second phase (fiscal years 2016-2019) is under way. But the Council of Agriculture spends large sums every year on subsidies, and has been questioned as amounting to nothing more than cosmetic "facelift projects."

Legislator Tsai Pei-hui, who has served as a reviewer for rural regeneration communities, pointed out that the fiscal year 2016 budget totaled NT$5.841 billion, of which 55.2% went to "overall environmental improvement and public construction in rural communities," while rural ecological conservation and industry and culture received only 9.12%. This has prompted outside criticism that the program emphasizes only construction, not rural culture or industry.

Beyond retaining walls, painted murals, and landscaping, what has rural regeneration actually regenerated? What rural industries has it revitalized? NewsMarket examines the results of the rural regeneration fund over the past five years, looking at both the system and how it has actually been implemented.