Huang Shan-liao: No One Looked at the World Champion’s Clothes, So He Started Selling 'One-Line Comfort'

In June 2026, an old poster went viral on Threads.

The photo shows the London runway in 2014, where a young Taiwanese man walked the stage with six outfits. The theme was "Kinmen 1969": military-style cuts, bullet holes, tassel camouflage nets, and vintage-looking fabric printed with images from the Kinmen Daily News and the Zhengqi Zhonghua Daily. That year, he won the international grand prize at the London Graduate Fashion Week. ¹

The comments section below was solving the same math problem: Is the designer who won the world championship on that poster the same person as the bestselling author being mocked by 600,000 people in a single video this week for having "no substance" and being "chicken soup"?

Yes. His name is Huang Shan-liao. Same person, two products: a cabinet of clothes telling the history of the battlefields that no media outlet covered, and healing short sentences of no more than 28 characters that cumulatively sold over 300,000 copies. He once defined those short sentences as giving people "the need for a line of comfort, like flipping through an almanac." ² No one looked at that cabinet of clothes, so he changed to selling "one-line comfort," becoming Taiwan’s most bestselling and most mocked writer.

30-Second Overview: Huang Shan-liao, born in 1992 in Kinmen, grew up in a family that ran a snack shop. In 2014, he won the international grand prize at the London Graduate Fashion Week (Graduate Fashion Week) with "Kinmen 1969," one of the three consecutive years that the Department of Fashion Design at Shih Chien University took the top prize. But after returning to Taiwan to seek employment, he sent out over a hundred resumes and got zero interviews. An HR representative at one company searched online, couldn't find any reports of his award, and suspected his resume was fake—he then realized "the world doesn't compare who has ability, but who has the ability to speak." He angrily started his own media outlet, One Shirt (2017–2021), to let the nameless be "seen," and then pivoted to becoming a healing writer who consistently topped the Eslite Bestseller List. In June 2026, a YouTube video by Domidolo about public judgment broke 600,000 views in one day, putting him in the spotlight of "Taiwan's Most Bestselling Writer's Big Scam."

The World Champion No One Reported

Let’s first clarify that forgotten fact: He really did win a world championship.

Huang Shan-liao was born on May 3, 1992, in Kinmen. His father is Huang Szu-chu, and his mother is Chao Hui-ying. The family ran a snack shop on the island. The name "Shan-liao" was given by his father. An interview in the Kinmen Daily News recorded the meaning behind the name: uncarved jade raw material, not yet weathered, pure, clean, fresh, and slightly angular. ³ Raw material, not a finished product; angular, not yet smoothed out. A person’s later story is sometimes already hidden in their name.

He entered the Department of Fashion Design at Shih Chien University through the offshore island guarantee system, not out of passion. He was blunt about it: "My ambition was never in fashion design. I only entered the major because when I was in high school, there was a system called the offshore island guarantee." ⁴ A child from an offshore island with no particular passion for fashion created a graduation piece four years later that made the editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia speak to him in his ear.

"Kinmen 1969" consisted of six outfits telling the war memories of his hometown:巾帼须眉 (heroic women), wartime women, and the spirit of soldiers. It heavily used military totems, bullet holes, military boots, and camouflage nets, printing old newspaper images from the Kinmen Daily News and the Zhengqi Zhonghua Daily onto fabric with a faux leather texture, paired with black iron metal details. ⁵ He explained the design philosophy in the Kinmen Daily News: "Memories are gentle; history is resolute. In the silhouette and cut, I演绎 (interpret) military elements: bunkers, military uniforms, stability, and strength." ³ He also said something more complete: "The principle I hold is that each piece is a personality, a character. They tell the stories of that era and defend the cultural history gradually destroyed by civilization." ³

Backstage at the 2014 London Graduate Fashion Week, Huang Shan-liao (center) with models wearing the "Kinmen 1969" series. Military uniforms, newspaper prints, camouflage nets—this cabinet of clothes telling the history of Kinmen’s battlefields won him the international grand prize, yet it was a cabinet almost no one in Taiwan had seen. Photo: Kinmen Daily News (fair use editorial commentary).

Remember this, because it is the key to the whole article: His peak craftsmanship was about the war memories of his hometown. A person called "substanceless," the moment he truly had substance was when he spoke for the history of a small island.

Yet, when he won the award, he wasn’t as excited as imagined. He wrote in his book: "It turns out winning the world championship isn’t as moving as imagined. There was no emotion of finally achieving the goal, no tears of being moved, no hope and憧憬 (yearning) for the future. What I had inside was only confusion and fear about the future." ⁶ According to descriptions in his book, the award presenter was Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia and a GFW judge, who leaned close to his ear and said: "You are a very talented designer. I look forward to you coming to work in Europe." ⁷

This stage was no small feat. The London Graduate Fashion Week was founded in the UK in 1991. The first gold award winner was Christopher Bailey, who later led Burberry. Alumni include Stella McCartney. Chinese media often directly call this grand prize the "world championship." ¹ The problem is: almost no one in Taiwan knew about this world champion.

The Words Spoken by That HR

After returning to Taiwan, for nearly two full years, Huang Shan-liao sent out over a hundred resumes and received not a single interview invitation. ⁸

What really pinned him down was the reply from an HR representative at one company. Storm Media recorded that conversation, word for word: HR told him that the manager had looked at the resume and thought he was excellent, but "he said his manager searched my name online and couldn't find too many mainstream media reports, so he thought my resume had the suspicion of being fake." ⁸ In other words: a person who won the world championship was treated as fake because there were no media reports about it.

This was an irreplaceable moment in Huang Shan-liao’s life. Everything that followed grew from here. His realization was also recorded word for word: "It turns out this world doesn't compare who has ability, but who has the ability to speak!" And "I have actually been trying to make up for the past regret of not being seen!" ⁸ In another interview in the Kinmen Daily News, he said it again in different words: "At that time, I felt very frustrated. My strength竟然 (unexpectedly) had to be endorsed by media to be recognized," followed by "I fell here, so I stood up from where I fell." ⁹

To understand this wound fairly, we need to zoom out: Behind it is a structural problem of the entire industry, not just his personal bad luck. The starting salary for new fashion designers in Taiwan is roughly NT$26,000 to NT$35,000. It takes about ten years to rise to design director. Overtime is the norm, and turnover is high. Even the industry’s归属 (affiliation) reveals the problem: the UK and France classify the fashion industry under the Ministry of Culture, but only Taiwan puts it under the Ministry of Economic Affairs: a mindset that treats clothes as contract manufacturing, not culture. ¹⁰ Huang Shan-liao himself described this despair: "Many young brothers and sisters just starting out want to do very creative things, but honestly, those things have no commercial value in Taiwan." Then came the heavier line: "Look at me, someone who already won awards and came back, and I’m already this hard-pressed. What about those who didn't win awards?" ⁴

The common mocking version says: He found out that writing chicken soup makes more money than making clothes, so he defected. This narrative is convenient, but it reverses the cause and effect. He was first taught a cruel lesson by the industry, and only then saw that there was money to be made: Not being seen is equivalent to non-existence. If even a world champion can become fake because no reports can be found, then how can an unknown person prove their existence? Everything he did later was an answer to this question.

Making "Being Seen" a Business

In 2017, at age 25, Huang Shan-liao took out a loan for NT$2 million, quit his design job that had only lasted 11 months, and founded One Shirt. ¹¹

This was a media outlet specifically designed to let the nameless be "seen." The Facebook page’s positioning was "The daily scenery of the city you挥洒 (splash/spread)," featuring craftsman stories of "resigning—starting a business—chasing dreams": the kind of life he was trapped in, which he went on to film for others. He did 161 character interviews in one year, approaching a million views weekly, with YouTube accumulating about 13.38 million views. The team peaked at about 20 people, reaching about 20 million Chinese-speaking people. ¹² A person who hit a wall in job hunting because he wasn’t reported on became someone who specialized in reporting on others. This turn itself is the most beautiful counterpoint in his entire story.

Character interviews from "One Shirt"—Huang Shan-liao took the kind of life he was once trapped in and filmed it for others. Video: Parenting World YouTube.

But as he did it, he emptied himself. In November 2020, he stepped down; in June 2021, he announced the closure of One Shirt. ¹² He explained the reason for closing it wasn’t commercial failure, but that he disliked the distorted version of himself: "After taking on too much responsibility, I became impatient with people. In fact, I really hated that Huang Shan-liao." ¹³ There was another, more reluctant line: "One Shirt is the baby I gave birth to myself. Letting go is very reluctant. It’s really time to leave. I can no longer hesitate, and I can no longer sacrifice anyone else just because I’m reluctant to leave." ¹⁴

Later, in a 2024 interview in Malaysia, he spoke even more sharply about that alienation. He said he "wasn't serving creation, but was an advertising company." ¹⁵ This sentence is a retrospective reflection, not something said at the moment of closing in 2021, but it precisely articulates a contradiction: He did media to let people be "seen," but when "being seen" became a business, what did this business feed: creation, or traffic itself? He hit the ceiling of the attention economy with his own experience and then chose to step down.

The Bestseller Logic of One Line of 28 Characters

After closing the media outlet, Huang Shan-liao set a goal for himself: complete ten novels in five years. ¹⁶

He started writing full-time in 2021. His first book, Drifting Youth (2019), was actually published earlier, but the first-year royalty was only NT$140,000. He himself said that because of this, "I continued to stay at that company for another 2 years." ¹⁷ The real explosion came after 2021: Live Well, Meet Slowly, Say Goodbye Well, Don't Fail the Encounter, That Girl Said to Me, The Rest of Your Life is You, It Doesn't Matter if It's Late, Lonely in the Human World, Yet Meeting You at First Sight, The Heart is Small, Just Hold What You Like, Make Days Slowly Better, Having Possessed is Enough. Almost one to two books a year, all published by Sun Color Publishing, all healing prose and novels with gentle short sentences and heavy use of white space. ¹⁶

The numbers are astonishing. Verified by Eslite’s official annual lists: In 2021, Live Well took TOP 1 in the Psychological Motivation category and 3rd overall for the year; in 2022 and 2023, he took the overall bestseller champion for the non-category for two consecutive years (Say Goodbye Well, The Rest of Your Life); in 2024 and 2025, he was 2nd overall, losing to Kevin Tsai’s You Will and The Autobiography of Morris Chang. ¹⁸ In terms of sales, he stated in 2023 that six books cumulatively exceeded 300,000 copies; in 2025, media called it over 400,000 copies. The Heart is Small sold 3,000 copies in 6 minutes of pre-order, breaking NT$1 million in revenue, with a first print run of 30,000. Lonely in the Human World had a first print run of 30,000 plus 5,000 signed copies, all sold out. ¹⁹²⁰

After pivoting to writing, Huang Shan-liao became a regular on the Eslite charts. The stacks of new books on the signing table are the concrete scale of "one-line comfort" becoming a national commodity. Photo: Huang Shan-liao Instagram (@iam_3636) / Bella Nongnong (fair use editorial commentary).

The most critical part is how he views what he is doing. In a 2025 Mirror Media interview, he spoke unapologetically about his bestseller methodology: "I’ve always felt that my opponents are not other authors, but Douyin, Facebook, and Threads." "What I write can be finished in one glance as you scroll past." "One line of 26 to 28 characters; if it exceeds that, their eyes might not be able to handle it." ²¹ In a 2023 China Times Supplement interview, he made the goal even blunter: "How to make people who don't like reading willing to finish this book is my goal." He wants people to "be like flipping through an almanac, needing a line of comfort." ²

📝 Curator’s Note
It’s easy to read this methodology as "he admits he’s slacking off." But looking at the two products together is more interesting: On the left is the "Kinmen 1969" cabinet, printed with old newspapers, bullet holes, and camouflage nets, telling the war memory of an island, with no media outlet looking at it; on the right are lines of 26 to 28 characters, with white space taking up half the page, selling over 300,000 copies. A person whose existence was denied ten years ago because "no one reported on him" has now turned "how to be caught by a phone-scrolling person in three seconds" into a science calculated down to the character count. He didn’t give up craftsmanship. He changed it from fabric to attention. The lesson that HR taught him that day, he learned too well.

He is even honest enough to admit he didn’t come from a literary background: "I used to write diaries on MySpace (Wuming Xiaozhan), but I didn't read books. I only developed the habit of reading after finishing Drifting Youth in 2019." ²² This sentence works for two readings: Critics will say "No wonder it’s shallow," while sympathizers will say "An unreading person climbed to the top through self-study." The same sentence, depending on which side you stand on.

A Shallow Pond, or a Mirror?

On June 5, 2026, YouTuber Domidolo released a video titled "Public Trial of Taiwan's Most Bestselling Writer's Big Scam," breaking 600,000 views in one day and about 700,000 in three days. ²³

The insults were heavy. Domidolo said he "clearly read 6 books, but the feeling was only 2," mocking the heavy white space: "Were your books touched by the Soup Witch? The characters are missing by half," calling his books "textual Blue Enchantresses," and giving the review "can only get 0 points," "an unqualified writer, a full-score mass psychology instigator." ²⁴

On June 5, 2026, Domidolo’s public trial video broke 600,000 views in one day, becoming the ignition point for this national discussion. Video: Domidolo Domidolo YouTube.

But what should be remembered most in this video is not those heavy words, but a metaphor: "Huang Shan-liao is not a very deep well, but a very shallow pond. You can see the bottom in one glance, but you can see yourself reflected in the water surface." ²³

This sentence is powerful because it doesn’t stop at cursing. It precisely points out Huang Shan-liao’s resonance mechanism: His books are mirrors, not wells. Readers see themselves in those short sentences and white space.

Here comes the paradox. Domidolo, who scolded Huang Shan-liao to the bottom, and the hundreds of thousands of readers who pushed Huang Shan-liao to the top, are actually describing the same mechanism. Those defending him agree too. On Threads, an author @authorlinyt spoke for him: "Huang Shan-liao’s shallow writing is actually very close to the reading market of the last 10 years. Just like after the rise of short videos and short dramas, everyone’s reception rhythm for content has become thinner and faster." ²⁵ And Huang Shan-liao himself had long admitted: "What I write can be finished in one glance as you scroll past." ²¹

All three agree on the essence of this: Easy to read, like a mirror, designed to be caught by phone-scrolling people in an era fighting for attention. Domidolo calls it a "shallow pond," defenders call it "market structure," and Huang Shan-liao himself calls it "readable in one glance." The three people are describing the same mirror, but the evaluation of it happens to be opposite.

📝 Curator’s Note
This is where the Huang Shan-liao case is truly interesting. Those who scold him think "seeing yourself in the water surface" is evidence of shallowness; those who love him think "seeing yourself in the water surface" is precisely the moment of being caught. The two sides seem to be arguing about Huang Shan-liao, but they are actually arguing about a bigger question: After an island’s reading rhythm is rewritten by short videos, does "reflecting yourself" count as a value? Huang Shan-liao is just the person standing exactly in the center of the crack.

Facing this public trial, Huang Shan-liao’s response was quietly glaring. On June 6, he indirectly shared a sentence from his new book in his IG Stories: "Many times, it’s not that you are not good enough, but that the environment you are in is inherently not healthy enough." ²⁶ On the morning of June 7, he issued a formal statement: "I can understand that each reader likes different works and expects different reading experiences. This year is the fifth year of full-time writing. My direction of effort has always been to make more people who originally didn't read willing to walk into bookstores, or even flip through a book. I still have much room for improvement, and I will continue to learn and grow. Thank you to all sectors for your suggestions, and thank you again to all readers for your support all along." ²⁷

A person who won a world championship, when given a score of 0, said he "would continue to learn."

Three Consecutive Champions, Three Destinies

To understand why Huang Shan-liao is being scolded, the best method is to put him back into the world he left, and line him up with those who stayed.

The Department of Fashion Design at Shih Chien University had won the international grand prize at the London Graduate Fashion Week for three consecutive years: Angus Chiang in 2013, Huang Shan-liao in 2014, and Chou Yun-ting in 2015. ²⁸ Same school, same stage, three completely different paths.

Angus Chiang stayed. His 2013 award-winning work "Sailing to the Moon" stitched together Taiwanese temple fair elements with space suits (Western reporters even read it as "Mexican space suits," a cross-cultural misreading). ²⁹ He then founded his eponymous brand ANGUS CHIANG in 2015, became the first Taiwanese designer to be shortlisted for the LVMH Prize in 2017 (semi-finalist), and appeared on the Paris Men’s Fashion Week. ³⁰ He gained respect in the international fashion circle and niche volume. In the Taiwanese public, far fewer people know the name Angus Chiang than know Huang Shan-liao.

Among the three consecutive champions from Shih Chien’s London run, Angus Chiang (right) chose to stay in fashion: His eponymous brand ANGUS CHIANG turned the visuals of Taiwanese temple fairs and betel nut stands into avant-garde menswear on the international runway, becoming the first Taiwanese designer shortlisted for the LVMH Prize in 2017. The international fashion circle recognizes him; the Taiwanese public mostly does not. Photo: Marie Claire (fair use editorial commentary).

Huang Shan-liao left. He changed the stage from the runway to the bookstore bestseller list, gaining national-level commercial volume and national-level mockery.

📊 Three Consecutive Champions, Three Destinies

Winner	Year	Work	Afterward
Angus Chiang	2013	Sailing to the Moon	Stayed in fashion → Shortlisted for LVMH Prize, Paris Men’s Fashion Week → International respect + Niche volume
Huang Shan-liao	2014	Kinmen 1969	Left fashion → Did media, became a writer → National volume + National mockery
Chou Yun-ting	2015	(Single source: Inspired by Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex)	Relatively low-key

Same school (Shih Chien), same stage (London GFW), opposite destinies. ²⁸³⁰

This table lays out, rather than just three people’s personality differences, a Taiwan exam question: Does this island reward "doing things well" or "being seen by many people"? Angus Chiang did things to an international standard, and the Taiwanese public doesn’t really know him. Huang Shan-liao made himself seen by the most people, and the Taiwanese public scolds him every day. One is neglected, the other is trampled. Those who do things well get no applause; those seen by many are treated as a joke. The two classmates who reached the extreme of both happen to demonstrate for Taiwan: Two paths, and neither may have applause.

Beyond Chicken Soup: The Controversies That Must Be Recorded Honestly

Treating Huang Shan-liao as a simple victim is another form of slacking off. His controversies are not just "low literary evaluation." There are several points that must be honestly laid out.

NT$250,000 Monthly Salary Plagiarism Incident (October 2020). His article "People Earning NT$250k and NT$30k Worry About the Same Things" was pointed out to have 6 similarities with an August PTT post ("ordering NT$500 worth of Uber Eats at once," "taking a taxi when going out," "ordering large fries and eating half"). ³¹ His rebuttal was: "I didn't plagiarize! That is 'quoting'," and he added "Perhaps I didn't write it clearly enough, that’s my problem, I’m stupid," and "It still hurts, I’m not made of iron." ³² Internet celebrity Chen Yi questioned that the "neighbor" earning NT$250k a month in the article was fictional. He responded: "The struggle of the past ten years cannot be overturned by data pieced together on the internet." ³³ This controversy has no conclusion to date, but the blurring line between "quoting" and "plagiarism" is one of the starting points of his trust rift.

Domestic Violence Remarks Incident (June 2024, Malaysia). This point must be handled with extra care. In the edited clips circulating online, his words were heard as: "If a person always beats you up at home, then you can always block his domestic violence; he is the one suitable for you." ³⁴ After the舆论 (public opinion) flared up, he apologized publicly, word for word: "Regarding domestic violence, I am 100% opposed. I do not support anyone in a relationship using violence to solve problems. My expression ability is poor, my meaning is incomplete. Domestic violence is wrong; this is my persistent stance." He also stated that the clip was edited. ³⁵

This matter cannot be balanced just by recording his apology. The stance of experts must be placed here with equal clarity: Lan Yi-feng of the Counseling Psychologists Association said "violence absolutely cannot be tolerated and should not be rationalized"; Chang Hsiu-yuan, Director of the Protection Services Division of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said "violence is absolutely not a way to solve problems." ³⁶ Commentators also pointed out deeper problems. An article in The News Lens had the title "Huang Shan-liao's 'Support for Domestic Violence' Theory Flares Up: Expression Ability Has Big Problems Yet Becomes a Bestselling Writer, You and I Both Pushed Him." ³⁷ Whether that sentence was edited or not, putting "whether you can block domestic violence" into a sentence about "whether you are suitable to be together" is inherently dangerous. Violence allows no compromise; this point should not be diluted by anyone’s apology or explanation.

Other controversies include a string: In March 2021, he said "People who are truly depressed to the bottom won't say they are depressed; they will directly disappear from the world," and was criticized for fake positive energy; ³⁸ in August 2023, his chicken soup text was posted on a National Taiwan University campus board, and was taken down in less than 6 hours, with netizens sarcastically saying "only 6 hours and no substance." ³⁹ But some also spoke fairly for him. In 2022, YouTuber Gua Ji criticized his books as "useless to society," and he responded magnanimously: "Diverse thoughts are important." ⁴⁰ Writer Wu Dan-ru also smoothed things over for him: Seeing your book but not liking it means even those who don't like your book see your book; you should be happy. ⁴⁰

⚠️ A Point That Must Be Clarified
In March 2026, there was an embezzlement case involving "Daily Scenery Co., Ltd." Huang Shan-liao was the victim, not the defendant. His company’s shareholder, Chiu Chih-chien, was indicted for forging documents and embezzling NT$5.74 million. ⁴¹ During the public trial, some people online mixed this up with him. Here it must be made clear: In this case, the person who was embezzled from was him.

I Actually Envy Those Who Are Already Completely Blacked Out

Back to that old poster going viral on Threads.

The young man who walked the London runway in "Kinmen 1969" in 2014, and the bestselling author being mocked by 600,000 people for "no substance" in this week of 2026, are the same person. From a Kinmen snack shop, to the London runway, to the top of the Eslite list, to a meme under a public trial video, this is a line that has always only wanted to do one thing: Be seen. He spoke of his hometown’s war through fabric, let the nameless appear through lenses, and caught phone-scrolling people with short sentences of 28 characters a line. The carrier has always been changing, but that desire growing out of the HR’s words "no reports found" has never changed.

He is a student personally taught by Taiwan. Taiwan told him that the world compares not ability, but the skill of speaking. He believed it. He practiced the skill of speaking to the national first place, and then Taiwan turned around and mocked him for having no real ability. He is the most complete living proof of this lesson.

In a 2025 Mirror Media interview, he said a sentence that now reads like a prophecy. He said: "I actually envy those public figures who are already completely blacked out, because those completely blacked-out people, no one can hijack them. Because look at a completely black person, even if you splash more dirty water on him, he is still black." ⁴²

A person who won a world championship envies those who are already completely blacked out and no longer need to care about anyone’s gaze. A person who practiced bestsellers to 28 characters a line, his deepest desire, turns out to be the freedom of not being seen.

That cabinet of "Kinmen 1969" no one looked at, so it disappeared; that "one-line comfort" everyone bought, so he became a national meme. So next time you want to mock "that substanceless chicken soup writer," maybe you can first look at the surface of that pond, and ask yourself: Does the line you find shallow reflect his shallowness, or an island that only applauds "readable in a glance" and refuses to applaud "made things"? Those who scold him, those who share him, those who defend him, are all reflecting in the same mirror.

Further Reading:

• Wu Bao-chun — Another Taiwanese craftsman who won a world championship, the difference is that his craftsmanship was seen
• Chiang Chen-cheng — Established coordinates for Taiwanese chefs on the international stage, another destiny on the path of "doing things well"
• Chang Chih-chi — Another "information curator" who makes complexity readable and seeks resonance in the attention era
• Jimmy Liao — From an advertising company background, turning into an internationally bestselling healing creator, another form of being seen
• Audrey Tang — How Taiwan treats a person difficult to categorize, another mirror

Image Sources

All images in this article are fair use editorial commentary, cached locally, for reporting and commentary only:

• Hero Portrait: Mirror Media Mirror Big Shot Interview (2025)
• "Kinmen 1969" Backstage Photo: Kinmen Daily News
• Book Signing Photo: Huang Shan-liao Instagram (@iam_3636) / Bella Nongnong
• Angus Chiang Work and Portrait: Marie Claire
• Videos: Parenting World, Domidolo Domidolo Official YouTube Embed

References