Source: @Tencent Animation World Style Feature

As one of China's neighbors, Vietnam has for a long time given the impression that it can be summed up in one word -- poverty. But for the majority of otaku - especially for one of the 30 million singles, Vietnam is a land of hope because the legend of the "Vietnamese bride" has a long history. A search for "Vietnamese bride" on one of the largest Chinese search engines yielded 2.61 million web pages and 524,000 news items, which shows the importance of this matter.

However, Vietnam became popular this time, not because of poverty or because of the bride, but because of a singing group called "HKT". Their styling and music style instantly crushed the aesthetics of Chinese netizens, and they were known as the "washing, cutting and blowing trio", and each work was basically crazy hot. As an animatist, we can't help but wonder about the current state of Vietnamese culture – what do Vietnamese people like to watch? What animation are they interested in? This investigation has led to astonishing results...

Vietnamese pop culture from washing, cutting and blowing: Chinese animation is all the rage

First of all, let me briefly describe the origins of this survey. The original name of the "Washing, Cutting and Blowing" group is "HKT Group", which is composed of three boys. Because their early "cool" hairstyle and "gorgeous" style are very similar to the non-mainstream hair salon brothers who were all the rage 10 years ago, they were praised by netizens as "washing, cutting and blowing combinations" and were popular.

Hot is popular, netizens know very well that the popularity of the "washing, cutting and blowing" combination is because of Lei Ren; After the group's gorgeous transformation was no longer thunderous, netizens' interest was greatly reduced. Many netizens have questioned, "Why do Vietnamese brothers have this taste?" Some netizens even asserted that "Vietnamese pop culture is at least 10 years behind China!" ”

Although many enthusiastic netizens later found that the HKT group received more criticism in Vietnam than die-hard loyalists, and it was not the so-called "first day group in Vietnam", this raised a new question: what do Vietnamese people like to watch? What is the true Vietnamese taste?

Returning to the industry, as an animation person, I decided to investigate the animation taste of Vietnamese people.

Quite different results side A: Vietnamese love to watch American and Japanese animation

This result was investigated by the Japanese themselves. The survey was conducted by the Japanese advertising agency Asahi Tong Advertising (ADK) from 2011 to 2012. At that time, ADK conducted a questionnaire called the "Seven Countries of India Comprehensive Survey", which surveyed 1,000 people from 20 to 59 years old, including children between the ages of 0 and 12. Vietnam, which is one of those surveyed in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, India and China, has the following findings:

Among people between the ages of 20 and 59, the top four most popular anime are: "Cat and Mouse", "Doraemon", "Mickey Mouse", and "Dragon Ball". Among the 0-12 year olds, the top four most popular animations are: "SpongeBob SquarePants", "Adventurous Dora", "Cat and Mouse", and "Mickey Mouse".

It should be said that the Japanese people should be quite strict in this regard, and the possibility of fraud as a result is still relatively small. This result is also more in line with our general common sense and aesthetics, at most, the Vietnamese people are a little old-fashioned and haven't watched any fashionable new animations. But the survey still has two flaws: First, it specifically skipped the main group of people who watch anime - teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19. Second, the sampling range is too narrow. Faced with such an age distribution, the sample of 1,000 people is a bit small.

Completely different results on the B side: "Pleasant Goat" and "Journey to the West" became popular in Vietnam

Unlike the survey conducted by Xutong Advertising, the results displayed on Youtube are completely different.

Youtube, affectionately known as the "oil turtle" by mainland netizens, as the world's largest video-sharing website, has long made the majority of mainland netizens "look at the wall and sigh". Although it is difficult to visit wèn, this does not affect the status of Youtube, and there is an endless stream of brave people who bravely climb over the wall. Although Vietnamese netizens are not troubled by circumventing the wall, the total population of Vietnam is only more than 86 million, and the number of Internet users is 31 million as of September 2012 - please consider the following number in this premise.

Considering that different upload times of videos can have a big impact on clicks, we selected videos that have been uploaded for one year for comparison. The first is "Cat and Mouse", which ranked first in the Xutong advertisement, with 750,000 views. This viewing figure is quite impressive, and then let's take a look at "Pleasant Goat", which has been uploaded for a year, and "Pleasant Goat", which has not been filmed in Xutong Advertising's survey, has an annual view of 928,000 times! And that's not all, the annual number of views of the animated version of "Journey to the West" is - 836,000 times! However, they are not the most popular, the most popular is "Sweetheart Gege", which has been uploaded for 9 months and has as many as 1.65 million views.

Are Vietnamese netizens watching these Chinese domestic animations with the mentality that we watch "washing, cutting and blowing"? Let's go to the comment area of "Pleasant Goat" to confirm. Comment section... I can't look at it directly, the comment area of Youtube is full of "good likes", and I finally took a screenshot of a comment with a little content, and it's still ...... What a top! You can see that there is no need for translation at all...... I think Vietnamese netizens like this from the bottom of their hearts!

Will the development be admirable? The demise of traditional Vietnamese culture

Whether it is local or foreign, whether it is "Cat and Mouse" or "Pleasant Goat", we must admit that these animation works are all imported to Vietnam. This seems to come back to a very realistic situation: in the process of development, we have actually had the experience of the Vietnamese now. We watched American movies, read British novels, copied Japanese comics... Then I look back and find that we still can't discard our traditions. It is a very normal thing to absorb advanced culture in the process of development, and the important thing is not whether to worship the foreign or not, but whether or not to return to itself after worshipping the foreign and in what form. And what about the Vietnamese? What is the state of Vietnam's own culture among young people today?

The Vietnamese also have their own cartoons - Dong Hu prints

Speaking of the traditional culture that is closest to the form of "comics" in Vietnam, it is probably Dong Hu painting. Dong Hu Print, also known as Dong Hu Print, Dong Hu Print, is a kind of prints based on traditional Vietnamese folk paintings that originated in Dong Hu Village, Shuanghu Township, Thuan Thanh District, Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam. There are different theories about when Donghu painting originated, but judging from the description of the late nineteenth-century satirical poet Chen Jichang's work, Donghu painting already had a certain reputation at that time. The raw materials of Donghu paintings are all from nature, and they do not require too high skills. However, it is generally no more than 50 centimeters in length, and the content is mostly about daily life, satirical aspects of the times, and also covers historical figures and folklore. The popular approach, rich content, and wide range of creative forms have made Dong Hu paintings a symbol of traditional Vietnamese comic culture.

It is a pity that Donghu prints are gradually dying out

Recently, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam listed the East Lake prints as a national intangible cultural heritage.

More often than not, it means that it is either prominent enough to become a national symbol, or it has decayed to the point where it requires state intervention to protect it.

Unfortunately, Donghu painting is the latter. Today, most local Vietnamese have found better-paying jobs, and only about 100 people still practice the traditional craft, and only two of them have opened their workshops to tourists. In a country of more than 86 million people, a country with 31 million netizens, only 100 people today maintain their most traditional Donghu paintings.

Historically, Vietnam has been heavily influenced by China and has embraced Confucian culture. In such Vietnam, with the rapid development of the Internet, the culture of young people has once again been impacted by the "most dazzling Chinese style". While we are proud of the vitality of our culture, do we also have a little other feeling?

epilogue

"Pleasant Goat" and "Sweetheart Gege", which are generally dismissed as "naïve" by mainstream comic fans in China, are very popular abroad. From the situation in the comment area, we found that Vietnamese netizens really like these animation works. On the one hand, it is really difficult for these animations to meet the needs of older anime fans in China, and on the other hand, these animations have "killed" what we consider to be high-quality animations in Vietnam. What is this slightly subtle feeling of pride and laughter?