Taking Advantage of Social Networks to Promote Vietnamese Culture

Introducing Vietnamese traditional costumes on platforms for young generations

In recent years, the application of traditional costumes in daily activities has become a trend among the young generation. In addition to the ao dai, photos of many other costumes such as ao tac, nhat binh, and five-piece shirt, become popular on social networks such as Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.

In 2013, author Tran Quang Duc published a book named "Ngan nam mu ao" (A thousand years of costume) - a research on reconstructing Vietnamese costumes in about a thousand years, from the Ly to the Nguyen Dynasty (1009 - 1945). , including royal, resident, and military costumes, paved the way for the trend of restoring ancient costumes among young people. A series of Facebook groups about Vietnamese customs and traditions, such as Dai Viet Co Phong, Dinh Lang Viet, was founded to spread beautiful photos of Vietnamese traditional costumes.

Nguyen Duc Loc (R), founder of Y Van Hien (Photo: Camelia Dinh)

Not only entering the lives of the young generation, ancient clothing leaves imprints on social networking platforms. According to TikTok's statistics, videos with the keyword "Vietnamese costume" have received 141.3 million views. Among them, many videos comparing Vietnamese costumes from those of Korea and China have reached millions of views.

If in previous years, the image of young Koreans wearing hanbok on the street was a trend, in the past 2-3 years, photos of Vietnamese traditional costumes at famous tourist destinations such as Hoi An, and Hue, attract the international social network community.

Sharing his viewpoint on the trend of restoring and introducing traditional costumes on social networks, Nguyen Duc Loc, a young man who founded Y Van Hien, a traditional costume tailoring house, said: “As the world gets flatter, when countries enter integration, people look to embrace their cultural and historical identity to affirm their own identity and position themselves among a multi-colored world. Gladly, nowadays, the traditional costume movement has created a certain effect, influencing society through a lot of activities and entertainment products. The public has become more interested in learning about traditional costumes."

Art brings Vietnamese culture to the world

In Paris - one of the world's centers of art, many valuable works of Vietnamese artists is kept in museums and auction houses that are rarely open to the public. With the desire to introduce the characteristics of Vietnamese painting to the art-loving community in France and around the world, French-Vietnamese researcher Nicolas Henni-Trinh Duc established an Instagram account named "Vietnamese Art in Paris" where he explains impressive Vietnamese painting works.

Nicolas Henni-Trinh Duc (Photo: Trinh Duc)

Founded in 2020, "Vietnamese Art in Paris" has so far reached 2,000 followers, most of which are overseas Vietnamese and art-loving foreigners. Visiting Nicolas Henni-Trinh Duc's Instagram, viewers encounter a variety of Vietnamese artworks, from portraits painted by Mai Thu and Le Pho to photos of ceramic vases, Buddha statues of the Le Dynasty, or costumes of the Nguyen kings. Along with photos, Nicolas Henni-Trinh Duc explains the historical background of the work, the characters, life activities, and the traditional costumes and habits of the Vietnamese people that are reflected in the drawings.

With his knowledge and love for his homeland's paintings, Nicolas Henni-Trinh Duc works with museums and auction houses in many countries such as France, Ireland, and the United States to provide the right information and understanding about the art and cultural values ​​expressed through Vietnamese painting to Western audiences. “I want people to understand that Vietnamese art has its own specificities. I want to expose the fact that there are very real traditions, vocabulary, practices, and means that makes Vietnamese art as valuable as any other national art," says Nicolas Henni-Trinh Duc.

On the journey to introduce Vietnamese traditional values to the international community, Nicolas Henni-Trinh Duc received encouragement from the overseas Vietnamese community around the world: “After starting this project, I received messages from Vietnamese from around the world, thanking me for sharing these works. The messages really encouraged me because they showed that we were united in our quest for Vietnamese art and history.”

The development of social networks has removed geographical distances, bringing people of different countries closer together. In that integrated world, many challenges arise in preserving, inheriting, and promoting traditional cultural values. However, with love, pride in national identity, and understanding of new platforms, young Vietnamese are actively applying the pervasiveness of social networks to introduce to international friends a Vietnam that is modern and dynamic but still retains unique and distinct cultural characteristics, with artistic and humanistic values.

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