Faded signs

In a previous blog entry:

http://mikeess-trip.blogspot.com/2011/01/reused-stuff.html

I speculated that it might be sun, rain or wind that was responsible for the fading colors on signs in Tainan. Some colors just don't last very long in Tainan, yellow in particular has a short life span.

 
Chinese characters work well with top to bottom characters, the sign runs vertical making good use of a small storefront. Not all dyes fade at the same rate. Green and blue in this sign outlasts the red background and the yellow characters.

The general trend of fading is from top to bottom so that seems that it's either the sun or the rain that is responsible. In Tainan, the streets are narrow and the building growup as the walls of a canyon.

So the sunlight reaches the top and insides of the "canyon" more frequently fading thoses parts of the sign.

Top to bottom

Inside to outside

For me the mystery is solved.