Huang Shan-liao: No One Looked at the Champion's Clothes, So He Started Selling 'A Sentence of 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 with six sets of clothing. The theme was "Kinmen 1969"—military-style cuts, bullet holes, tassel camouflage nets, and faux-old fabrics printed with images from the Kinmen Daily News and Zhengqi Zhonghua News. That year, he won the international first prize at the London Graduate Fashion Week. ¹

The comments section below was calculating the same math problem: Is the designer who won the world champion title in the poster the same person as the bestselling writer being mocked by 600,000 people in a video comment section this week for being "lacking in substance" and "chicken soup"?

Yes. His name is Huang Shan-liao. The same person, two different products: a cabinet of "Kinmen 1969" telling the history of the war zone, which no media outlet reported on, and healing short sentences of no more than 28 characters, cumulatively selling over 300,000 copies. He once defined those short sentences as giving people "a need for a sentence of comfort, like flipping through an horoscope book." ² No one looked at the cabinet of clothes, so he changed to selling "a sentence of comfort," and thus became Taiwan's most bestselling and most mocked writer.

30-Second Overview: Huang Shan-liao, born in 1992 in Kinmen, his family ran a snack shop. In 2014, he won the international first prize at the London Graduate Fashion Week (Graduate Fashion Week) with "Kinmen 1969," one of the three consecutive years that the Fashion Design Department of Shih Chien University won the award. However, after returning to Taiwan to seek employment, he sent out over 100 resumes and received zero interview invitations. An HR representative at a certain company searched online and couldn't find any reports of his award, suspecting his resume was fake—he thereby realized "the world doesn't compare who has ability, but who has the ability to speak," angrily created his own media A Shirt (2017–2021) to make the nameless "visible," and then switched to becoming a healing writer who continuously topped the Eslite Bestseller List. In June 2026, a YouTube video by Domidolo about public trial broke 600,000 views in one day, pushing him to the风口 (wind vane/tip of the spear) of "Taiwan's Most Bestselling Writer's Big Scam."

The World Champion Who Got No Coverage

Let's clarify that forgotten fact first: 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—the Kinmen Daily News interview recorded his father's meaning for the name: uncarved jade raw material, not yet weathered, pure, clean, fresh, and slightly angular. ³ Raw material, not finished product; angular, not yet smoothed out. A person's later story is sometimes already hidden in their name.

He entered the Fashion Design Department of Shih Chien University through the offshore island recommendation system, not out of passion. He spoke plainly: "My ambition was never in fashion design; I entered fashion design only because in high school, there was a system called the offshore island recommendation." ⁴ A child from an offshore island with no particular passion for fashion made a graduation work that made the editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue speak in his ear after four years.

"Kinmen 1969" consisted of six sets of clothing, telling the war zone memories of his hometown:巾帼须眉 (heroic women), war zone women, 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 Zhengqi Zhonghua News onto faux-old leather-textured fabrics, paired with black iron metal details. ⁵ He explained the design philosophy of these clothes in the Kinmen Daily News: "Memories are gentle, history is resolute. In the pattern and silhouette, I interpret military elements: bunkers, military uniforms, stability, strength." ³ He also said a more complete sentence: "The principle I grasp is that each work is a personality, a character, telling the stories of that era and defending 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 war zone won him the international first 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 speaking for the war memories of his hometown. A person who was called "lacking in substance," his truly substantial moment was when he spoke for the history of a small island.

At the moment of winning the award, he did not feel the excitement he had imagined. He wrote in his book: "It turns out that becoming a world champion is not as moving as imagined. There was no emotion of finally achieving a goal, no tears of being moved, no hope and憧憬 (yearning) for the future. What I had in my heart 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 award stage was no small matter. The London Graduate Fashion Week was founded in the UK in 1991; the first gold award winner was Christopher Bailey, who later took charge of Burberry, and alumni include Stella McCartney. Chinese media often directly call this first prize a "world champion." 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 100 resumes and received not a single interview invitation. ⁸

What truly pinned him down was the reply from an HR representative at a certain company. Storm Media recorded that dialogue, word for word: The HR told him that the supervisor had looked at the resume and thought he was excellent, but "he said his supervisor searched my name online but 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 had won a world championship was treated as fake because there were no media reports about it.

This is 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 compensating for the past lack of 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 rely on media endorsement to be recognized," followed by "I fell down in this place, so I stood up from where I fell." ⁹

To understand this wound fairly, we need to zoom out a bit: 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 about 26,000 to 35,000 NTD; it takes about ten years to rise to design director, and overtime is common, with high turnover. Even the industry affiliation reveals the problem: The UK and France classify the fashion industry under the Ministry of Culture; only Taiwan classifies the fashion industry under the Ministry of Economic Affairs—a mindset that treats clothes as OEM (original equipment manufacturing) rather than culture. ¹⁰ Huang Shan-liao himself described this despair: "Many young brothers and sisters coming out now want to do very creative things, but honestly, those things have no commercial value in Taiwan." Then came the heavier sentence: "Look at me, someone who already won an award and came back, already struggling so much, what about those who didn't win awards?" ⁴

The common mocking version says: He found that writing chicken soup made 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 equals non-existence. If a world champion can become fake because no reports could be found, then how can a nameless person prove their existence? Everything he did later was answering this question.

Making "Being Seen" a Business

In 2017, at age 25, Huang Shan-liao took out a loan of 2 million NTD, quit his design job which he had only held for 11 months, and founded A Shirt. ¹¹

This was a media platform dedicated to making the nameless "visible." The Facebook page positioning said "The daily scenery of the city where you挥洒 (spray/spread)," and the subject matter was craftsman stories of "resigning—starting a business—chasing dreams"—the kind of life he was trapped in, he went to film it for others. He did 161 character interviews in one year, nearly reaching 10 million views per week, YouTube cumulative views of about 13.38 million, team peak of about 20 people, reaching about 20 million Chinese-speaking people. ¹² A person who was blocked in job hunting because he wasn't reported on, turned around to become someone who specifically reported on others. This turn itself is the most beautiful counterpoint of his entire story.

Character interviews for A Shirt—Huang Shan-liao took the kind of life he had been trapped in and filmed it for others. Video: Parent & Child World YouTube.

But as he did it, he emptied himself. In November 2020, he stepped down; in June 2021, he announced the closure of A Shirt. ¹² He explained the reason for closing it was not commercial failure, but that he didn't like that distorted version of himself: "After taking on too heavy a responsibility, I became impatient with people. In fact, I really hated that Huang Shan-liao." ¹³ There was also a more reluctant sentence: "A Shirt is the baby I gave birth to personally; letting go is very reluctant. It really needs to leave; I can no longer hesitate, can no longer continue to sacrifice anyone because I'm reluctant to leave." ¹⁴

Later, in a 2024 interview in Malaysia, he spoke more sharply about that alienation: He said he "was not serving creation, but was an advertising company." ¹⁵ This sentence is a retrospective reflection, not what he said at the time of closing in 2021—but it precisely points out a contradiction: He made media to let people "be seen," but when "being seen" became a business, what did this business need to feed: creation, or traffic itself? He hit the ceiling of the attention economy through personal experience, then chose to step down.

The Bestseller Logic of One Line of 28 Characters

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

He started writing full-time from 2021. His first book Drifting Youth (2019) was actually published earlier, but the first-year royalty was only 140,000 NTD—he himself said that because of this, "I would continue to work at that company for another 2 years." ¹⁷ The real explosion was 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 Like Old Friends at First Sight, The Heart is Small, Just Hold Things You Like, Make Days Slowly Better, Having Owned is Enough—almost one to two books a year, all published by Sancai Culture, all gentle short sentences, heavily blanked healing prose and novels. ¹⁶

The numbers are astonishing. Verified by the official Eslite annual list: In 2021, Live Well took the TOP 1 in the Psychological Inspirational category and Third Place overall; in 2022 and 2023, it won the Eslite Overall Bestseller Champion for two consecutive years (Say Goodbye Well, The Rest of Your Life); in 2024 and 2025, it was Second Place annually, losing to Kevin Tsai's You Will and The Autobiography of Terry Gou. 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 pre-sale opened and sold 3,000 copies in 6 minutes, breaking 1 million in revenue, first print run of 30,000; Lonely in the Human World first print run of 30,000 plus 5,000 signed copies all sold out. ¹⁹²⁰

After switching to writing, Huang Shan-liao became a regular on the Eslite lists. The stacks of new books on the signing table are the concrete scale of "a sentence of 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 unreservedly about his bestseller methodology: "I have always felt that my opponents are not other authors, but TikTok, Facebook, Threads." "What I write can be finished in one glance as you swipe 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 stated his goal more plainly: "How to make people who don't like reading willing to finish this book is my goal"; he wanted people to "need a sentence of comfort, like flipping through an horoscope book." ²

📝 Curator's Note
It's easy for everyone 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, camouflage nets, telling the war memories of an island, with no media outlet looking at it; on the right are lines of 26 to 28 characters, with blank space taking up half a 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 person swiping a phone 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 is not from a literary youth background: "I used to write diaries on MySpace (Wu Ming Xiao Zhan), but I didn't read books; only after finishing Drifting Youth in 2019 did I develop the habit of reading." ²² This sentence has two valid readings: Critics will say "No wonder it's written shallowly," sympathizers will say "A person who doesn't read books 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 uploaded 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 criticism was heavy. Domidolo said he "clearly read 6 books, but the feeling was only 2," mocking the excessive blank space—"Has your book been touched by No-Face (from Spirited Away)? The characters are missing by half," called his books "Text Version Blue妖姬 (Enchantress)," and gave the evaluation "can only get 0 points," "an unqualified writer, a master of mass psychological provocation" based on literary professionalism. ²⁴

On June 5, 2026, Domidolo's public trial video broke 600,000 views in one day, becoming the detonator 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 at a glance, but you can see yourself reflected in the water surface." ²³

The reason this sentence is powerful is that 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 blank spaces.

Here comes the paradox. Domidolo, who scolded Huang Shan-liao to the bottom, and the hundreds of thousands of readers who praised Huang Shan-liao to the top, are actually describing the same mechanism. Those defending him are too. On Threads, an author @authorlinyt spoke for him saying: "Huang Shan-liao's shallow writing actually fits the reading market of the past 10 years very well; just like after short videos and short dramas rose, everyone's reception rhythm for content became thinner and faster." ²⁵ And Huang Shan-liao himself had long admitted: "What I write can be finished in one glance as you swipe past." ²¹

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

📝 Curator's Note
This is where Huang Shan-liao's 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 problem: 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 quiet enough to be刺眼 (eye-painful/eye-catching). On June 6, he indirectly reposted 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; the direction of my effort has always been to let more people who originally didn't read be willing to walk into bookstores, or even flip through a book. I still have a lot to improve, and will continue to learn and grow. Thank you to all sectors for my suggestions, and once again thank all readers for their support all along." ²⁷

A person who had 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 look at him side by side with those who stayed.

The Fashion Design Department of Shih Chien University had won the international first prize at the London Graduate Fashion Week for three consecutive years: Angus Chiang in 2013, Huang Shan-liao in 2014, and Zhou 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" combined Taiwanese temple fair elements with spacesuits (Western reporters even read it as "Mexican spacesuit," a cross-cultural misreading). ²⁹ Later, he 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 at Paris Fashion Week. ³⁰ He gained respect in the international fashion circle—and niche volume. In the Taiwanese public, people who know the name Angus Chiang are far fewer than those who know Huang Shan-liao.

Among the winners of Shih Chien's London three-peat, 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 to be shortlisted for the LVMH Prize in 2017. The international fashion circle recognizes him, but the Taiwanese public mostly doesn't. Photo: Marie Claire (fair use editorial commentary).

Huang Shan-liao left. He switched 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 Fashion Week → International respect + Niche volume
Huang Shan-liao	2014	Kinmen 1969	Left fashion → Made media, became a writer → National volume + National mockery
Zhou 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 open, rather than just the personality differences of three people, 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 didn't really recognize him. Huang Shan-liao made himself seen by the most people, and the Taiwanese public scolded him every day. One was neglected, one was trampled. Those who did things well got no applause; those seen by many people were treated as a joke. The two classmates who both reached the extreme of these two paths happened to demonstrate for Taiwan: Two paths, possibly with no applause for either.

Beyond Chicken Soup: The Controversies That Must Be Honestly Recorded

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 open.

Monthly Salary 250k NTD Plagiarism Incident (October 2020). His article "People Earning 250k and 30k NTD Have the Same Worries" was pointed out to have 6 similarities with an August PTT post ("ordering 500 NTD worth of Uber Eats at once," "taking a taxi out," "fries with extra portion, eating half," etc.). ³¹ His rebuttal was: "I didn't plagiarize!" "That is 'quoting'," and added "Maybe I didn't write it clearly enough, that's my problem, I'm stupid," and "I still get hurt, I'm not made of iron." ³² Internet celebrity Chen Yi questioned that the "neighbor" earning 250k NTD in the article was fabricated. 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 yet, but the blurry 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 one person always abuses you, then you can always resist his abuse; he is the suitable partner for you." ³⁴ After the public outcry, he publicly apologized, word for word: "Regarding domestic violence, I absolutely oppose it, do not support anyone in a relationship solving problems with violence; my expression ability is poor, the semantics are 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 expert's stance must be placed here with equal clarity: Lan Yi-feng of the Counseling Psychologists Association said "violence absolutely cannot be tolerated, nor should it 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 a deeper problem—The News Lens article's title was "Huang Shan-liao's 'Support for Domestic Violence Theory' Goes Viral: Expression Ability Has Big Problems Yet Becomes a Bestselling Writer, You and I Both Pushed It." ³⁷ Regardless of whether that sentence was edited, putting "whether you can resist 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," criticized as fake positive energy; ³⁸ In August 2023, his chicken soup text was posted on the NTU campus bulletin board, and was taken down in less than 6 hours, with netizens sarcastically saying "only 6 hours and no substance." ³⁹ But some people spoke up for him—In 2022, YouTuber Gua Ji criticized his books as "useless to society," and he responded magnanimously: "Diverse ideas are important." ⁴⁰ Writer Wu Dan-ru then 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 a "Daily Scenery Co., Ltd." embezzlement case; Huang Shan-liao was the victim, not the defendant. His company's shareholder Chiu Chih-chien was prosecuted for forging documents and embezzling 5.74 million NTD. ⁴¹ During the public trial, some people on the internet 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 Blackened

Back to that old poster going viral on Threads.

The young man in 2014 who walked the London runway in "Kinmen 1969," and the bestselling writer in 2026 who is being mocked by 600,000 people this week for being "lacking in substance," are the same person. From Kinmen's snack shop, to London's runway, to Eslite's top, to the meme under a public trial video—this is a line that always only wanted to do one thing: Be seen. He spoke for his hometown's war with fabric, made the nameless appear with lenses, and caught people swiping phones with short sentences of 28 characters a line. The carrier has always been changing, but that desire growing from HR's words "couldn't find reports" has never changed.

He is a student hand-raised by Taiwan. Taiwan told him that this world compares not ability, but the skill of speaking—he believed it, he practiced the skill of speaking to the number one in the country—and then Taiwan turned around and mocked him for not having real ability. He is the most complete living proof of this lesson.

In a 2025 Mirror Media interview, he said a sentence that reads like a prophecy now. He said: "I actually envy those public figures who are already completely blackened, because those completely blackened people, no one can kidnap 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 had won a world championship, envies those who are already completely blackened and no longer need to care about anyone's eyes. A person who practiced bestsellers to a line of 28 characters, his deepest desire is actually the freedom of not being seen.

That cabinet of "Kinmen 1969" no one looked at, so it disappeared; that sentence "a sentence of comfort" everyone bought, so he became a national meme. So next time you want to mock "that substance-less chicken soup writer," maybe first look at the water surface of that pond—ask yourself, the line of words you find shallow, reflects his shallowness, or an island that only claps for "swiping a glance and finishing reading," but won't clap for "making things"? Those who scold him, those who repost 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 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 similarly made complexity readable, seeking resonance in the attention era
• Jimmy Liao — From an advertising company background, turned into an internationally bestselling healing creator, another way of being seen
• Fang Feng — How Taiwan treats a person who is difficult to classify, another mirror

Image Sources

All images in this article are fair use editorial commentary, cached locally, for reporting and commentary purposes 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 Works and Portrait: Marie Claire
• Videos: Parent & Child World, Domidolo Domidolo Official YouTube Embed

References