Dao Huu Quy always tries to wear Ao Dai in clips about Hue.
I want to record videos to preserve the images and introduce to future generations that Hue used to have such traditional dishes and occupations. Sometimes, if my videos are lucky enough to become a trend, I know how to rekindle the curiosity and desire to learn about those things.
Dao Huu Quy
With a pure Hue accent, Dao Huu Quy told Tuoi Tre about his two-year journey creating a TikTok channel with interesting cultural stories about his hometown.
Through the videos, Quy said he hopes viewers can somehow sympathize and keep in their hearts the old, beautiful values of ancient Hue culture so that that culture will never be lost.
Knowledge is like a grain of sand
Dao Huu Quy used to be an ao dai model. He had been a model for about five years when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
During this quiet time, Quy approached TikTok and learned about the reviewer job.
As a Hue native, Quy thinks of ways to use the power of social networks to promote beautiful, new images of Hue, things that outsiders are not familiar with.
Quy said: "Some friends told me that Hue is famous for beef noodle soup, mussel rice or banh loc. I think those dishes seem to be very familiar to many people.
Hue cuisine is much more diverse and interesting than that. There are dishes that have appeared in my subconscious for a long time but no one knows about them."
Dao Huu Quy makes areca candy, a familiar childhood dish of many Hue people.
And that is one of the reasons why this guy started building his own channel with the first series of videos about unique dishes of Hue. Those are banh duc mat, banh loc chien, banh canh bot lop, bun chua nuong nuoc...
Below the video about Bun Muc Nuoc posted by Quy, many people who have not been to Hue have expressed their desire to come here immediately to explore the cuisine and dreamy beauty of the ancient capital: "I hope to come from the North to Hue to try this dish"; "Hue is beautiful, Hue loves me, I miss Hue so much, oh Hue"; "I must go to Hue once"...
Dao Huu Quy sculpts statues of Mr. Cong and Mr. Tao in Dia Linh village - Photo: NVCC
Quy said the more he learned about Hue culture, the more he realized that his knowledge was like a grain of sand in the desert.
Because Hue culture is divided into many genres such as folk, aristocratic, mandarin or royal. Each genre has its own color and characteristics.
In terms of cuisine, Hue has about 120 types of cakes. Some types of cakes such as banh bo jam, banh te dieu, banh goi, banh mang, banh mai... are no longer known by many people.
The number of people who understand and can make authentic Hue cakes is really rare.
Sharing with Tuoi Tre, Quy said that currently some traditional Hue cakes are gradually disappearing and sometimes even with money, you can't eat them anymore.
In most of the videos on Quy's TikTok channel, he wears the ao dai. "Actually, in the first clips, I didn't wear the ao dai. But the more I do it, the more I love my homeland, and the ao dai is our country's national costume.
I want to show my identity and characteristics. When foreigners watch my videos, they will realize that these are Vietnamese people wearing Vietnamese ao dai to promote Vietnamese culture" - Quy confided.
Dao Huu Quy sculpts statues of Mr. Cong and Mr. Tao in Dia Linh village - Photo: NVCC
If there were no more cicadas and rattles
In his journey to learn about his homeland's culture, Quy's biggest concern is that traditional craft villages in Hue are gradually fading away because there are no descendants to inherit them.
He guessed the biggest reason why these people did not choose to follow the family business was because the conditions and production process were difficult, taking a lot of time and effort but there was no output and the income was not high.
Quy told Tuoi Tre about his experience when visiting and filming a video about Dia Linh craft village, which specializes in making statues of Ong Cong Ong Tao:
"The craft village had about 20 households, but now only about 4 households maintain this profession. It takes a week to make a batch of pottery.
If you put the pottery in the kiln and it cracks, you can only throw it away. When you sell it at wholesale price, you only get about 5,000 VND per statue.
Experiencing these jobs, I think those who still wholeheartedly preserve the craft village must truly love their job to be so patient and endure hardships like that."
Many people commented asking to buy statues of Ong Cong Ong Tao under Huu Quy's video from Dia Linh craft village. He said he only shares about the profession and does not do business.
Some people exclaimed: "Watching this makes me want to cry because there are families still trying to keep the traditional profession of their ancestors"...
Or the video of Mrs. Chieu making cicadas and rattles also left Quy with many thoughts. He said that every time he saw her, she was getting older and weaker.
"I secretly think that if one day I pass Truong Tien Bridge and no longer hear the familiar sounds of cicadas or rattles, I will know that another cultural feature of the previous generation has been lost" - Quy confided.
And that is also the biggest reason for Quy to maintain and develop his TikTok channel until today.
Dao Huu Quy (31 years old) is currently a digital content creator about Hue culture on the social network TikTok. His videos specialize in recording the culinary beauty, traditional craft villages or new cultural values of Hue.
Quy also cherishes the Tea and Cake project, combining with artisans to create an experience area in Hue. Guests can drink tea, enjoy royal cakes, and even learn how to make cakes.
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