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Globally, approximately 50 million people consider themselves "content creators," generating an estimated $100 billion economy according to Bloomberg. This market is becoming increasingly competitive, especially with Vietnam being among the world's top consumers of digital content. So, how can young people differentiate themselves?
Traditional Chinese culture showcased through creative videos.
Hỷ Khí Dương Dương, whose real name is Dương Bội Linh (nickname Melon, 27 years old, Ho Chi Minh City), is of Vietnamese-Chinese descent. From a young age, she was exposed to Chinese cuisine, which motivated her to introduce traditional Chinese food and culture to a wider online community.
She started out as a teacher of Mandarin and Chinese. Later, she transitioned to a role as a fitness trainer, but was forced to leave her job due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
When asked about how she got into food reviewer, Boi Linh said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, she had a lot of time at home, so she created a TikTok channel with the initial goal of sharing Chinese language lessons with those who were learning and passionate about the Chinese language.
Duong Boi Linh argues that when Chinese culture was introduced to Vietnam, it underwent changes to adapt to the local customs and traditions.
However, initially, her channel didn't receive much interaction or positive feedback. Her mother was her constant source of motivation and inspiration for creating videos. Besides showcasing famous, long-established restaurants, she often shared videos of herself cooking Chinese dishes with her mother. Gradually, the channel's follower count increased significantly, and with positive feedback, she decided to develop her channel into the current focus on reviewing Chinese culture and cuisine.
Duong Boi Linh owns a TikTok channel with over 1.1 million followers and more than 20 million likes, featuring unique videos alternating between Chinese and Vietnamese. Driven by her passion, she always wants to share more about the Chinese community living in the Cholon area of Ho Chi Minh City.
Cholon is considered to be the area with the largest Chinese population in Ho Chi Minh City. This community has formed historical and cultural landmarks and a bustling business district, contributing to a unique character rarely found in Vietnam.
Duong Boi Linh said: "Chinese cuisine is very diverse; everyone has tried it at least once. Surely you've never eaten dumplings or wonton noodles? But to experience the most authentic flavors, you should still go to Cholon Market. There you'll find thousands of dishes; everyone has their own preferences, so you're sure to find what you're looking for."
Creating content in an era prone to "saturation"
The videos of this Vietnamese-Chinese female TikToker all feature content that she truly understands and is passionate about before sharing it with viewers. In today's increasingly saturated TikTok platform, digital content creators need to clearly understand their strengths to succeed.
Videos by Duong Boi Linh about Chinese cuisine and culture always receive a lot of attention from viewers.
Chinese cuisine in Saigon is generally divided into four main groups that enrich the city's restaurants and eateries. These four groups are Cantonese, Teochew, Hokkien, and Hakka cuisine.
Cantonese cuisine is most famous for its dim sum. Teochew cuisine is much lighter and boasts up to 10 cooking methods: steaming, braising, stewing, roasting, baking, frying, stir-frying, grilling, and braised. Typical dishes include porridge, seafood noodles, braised pork, roast pork, char siu, braised duck, etc. Fujian cuisine is known for its diverse ingredients and flavors; sometimes a single dish can have 20 different toppings, notably Fujian braised duck and Buddha climbing the wall. Hakka cuisine often features everyday dishes with unique flavors, such as fried chicken rice, stir-fried beef noodles, and stir-fried ramen.
Besides her food review videos, Duong Boi Linh is also popular among young people for her videos teaching Chinese and sharing her life philosophies.
To maintain the growth of her TikTok channel, Duong Boi Linh doesn't hesitate to reinvent herself and diversify her ways of communicating with her audience. Through Duong Boi Linh's videos, many young people have learned more about Chinese culture and are eager to visit Cholon Market to experience it firsthand.
To be able to synthesize all the knowledge about Chinese culture in her videos, she believes that thorough research is essential when creating content. As a content creator, Duong Boi Linh shared: "In my opinion, the most important factor is passion. And that passion will be fully conveyed through the videos to everyone."
