In the world today, there are about 50 million people who classify themselves as "content creators", creating an economy estimated to be worth 100 billion USD according to Bloomberg. This market is increasingly fiercely competitive, especially when Vietnam is among the countries that consume the most digital content in the world. So how can young people make a difference for themselves?
Traditional Chinese culture through creative videos
Hy Khi Duong Duong's real name is Duong Boi Linh (nickname Melon, 27 years old, Ho Chi Minh City). Being Vietnamese of Chinese origin, she was exposed to Chinese cuisine from a young age. This also motivated her to want to introduce traditional Chinese dishes and culture closer to the online community.
She started out as a Chinese and Mandarin teacher. She later switched to working as a fitness trainer, but was forced to quit her job due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
When asked about her fate as a food reviewer, Boi Linh said that during the Covid-19 outbreak, she had a lot of time at home, so she created a TikTok channel with the initial purpose of wanting to share Chinese with those who are studying and passionate about Chinese.
Duong Boi Linh believes that when Chinese culture entered Vietnam, it changed to suit the local customs and traditions.
However, at first, her channel did not have much interaction and response from everyone. The motivation and inspiration for Duong Boi Linh to make videos was always her mother as a companion. In addition to famous long-standing restaurants, she often uploaded videos of cooking Chinese dishes with her mother to viewers. Gradually, the number of followers on the channel increased and received positive feedback, she decided to develop the channel in the direction of reviewing Chinese culture and cuisine as it is now.
Duong Boi Linh owns a TikTok channel with more than 1.1 million followers and more than 20 million likes, with unique videos mixed in Chinese and Vietnamese. With her passion, she always wants to share more about the Chinese community living in Cho Lon area, Ho Chi Minh City.
Cho Lon is considered to be the place with the largest Chinese population in Ho Chi Minh City. The community living here has formed historical and cultural relics, and bustling business, which has contributed to creating a unique and rare feature in Vietnam.
Duong Boi Linh said: “Chinese cuisine is very diverse, everyone has tried it at least once, have you never tried Ha Dumplings and Wonton noodles? But to try the most authentic taste, you should still go to Cho Lon area. This place has thousands of dishes, each person has a preference, you will definitely find the dish you are looking for”.
Content Creation in Times of “Saturation”
The videos of the Chinese-Vietnamese female TikToker all contain content that she truly understands and is passionate about before bringing to viewers. In today's increasingly saturated TikTok platform, digital content creators need to clearly understand their strengths to succeed.
Duong Boi Linh's videos sharing about Chinese cuisine and culture always receive attention from viewers.
Chinese cuisine in Saigon usually has four main groups that enrich the restaurants here. These four groups are Cantonese, Teochew, Fujian and Hakka cuisine.
The most famous Cantonese cuisine is still Dimsum, which means breakfast. Teochew dishes are much lighter and have up to 10 ways of preparation including: boiling, steaming, simmering, roasting, baking, frying, stir-frying, grilling, and braised offal. Typical dishes include porridge, seafood noodles, braised offal, roast pork, char siu, braised duck... Fujian dishes are often diverse in ingredients and flavors, sometimes a dish has 20 different side ingredients, notably Fujian braised duck, Buddha climbing the wall... Hakka dishes are often dishes that can be eaten every day with unique flavors such as fried chicken rice, stir-fried beef noodles, fried noodles...
Besides videos reviewing places to eat, Duong Boi Linh is also loved by young people through videos teaching Chinese or videos sharing about life concepts.
To maintain the development of the TikTok channel, Duong Boi Linh does not hesitate to renew herself as well as diversify the way she conveys to the audience. Also from Duong Boi Linh's videos, many young people know more about the Chinese cultural space and do not hesitate to go to Cho Lon to enjoy and experience.
In order to be able to synthesize all the knowledge about Chinese culture in the videos, she believes that one must always research thoroughly when creating content. As a content creator, Duong Boi Linh shared: "In my opinion, the most important factor is still passion. And that passion will be conveyed to everyone through the videos."
