Telling history through talented drawings

Historical and folklore stories told through a simple, emotional voice, combined with vivid drawings that "explode" with color vision, have helped TikToker Pham Thi Thuy Tien create "million-view" clips. By building and spreading the Ve ke chuyen channel, attracting 1.1 million followers, Thuy Tien is diligently and enthusiastically pursuing the journey of telling historical stories through talented drawings. Thereby, inspiring many young people to learn about national culture and history.

Folklore includes stories imbued with historical color.

Sharing with Dong Nai Weekend, Thuy Tien said: "I love Vietnamese culture and history not only in books but also through relics, mausoleums, temples, spiritual heritages, places that preserve the values ​​and profound lessons of our ancestors."

Thuy Tien - Drawing to tell stories

Having a talent and passion for drawing, Thuy Tien did not have the opportunity to study drawing since childhood, and her parents did not support her in studying fine arts. However, the love for painting still smoldered in the little girl, Thuy Tien took advantage of drawing anywhere, anytime to satisfy her passion. Sometimes hiding in the attic, sometimes under the bed, with an old set of crayons, Thuy Tien drew her dreams, her childhood memories, especially the images in fairy tales and folk tales that she heard.

Growing up, Thuy Tien studied literature but sometimes she still drew for friends or spent her free time contemplating life through light and dark colors. “Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, I wanted to do something to connect people together and through drawing, I told stories about history and anecdotes about the fate of women. Surprisingly, the clips on TikTok attracted a lot of views and became “viral”. From then on, I had more motivation to build and develop the Ve ke chuyen channel” - Ms. Thuy Tien confided.

From characters such as dancer Cam Nhung, Miss Ba Tra, Miss Tu Nhi..., Thuy Tien's clips attract more and more viewers, commenting on historical characters and events. Next, clips about characters such as Queen Nam Phuong, Phu Dong Thien Vuong, Chu Dong Tu... are elaborately and attractively made, showing that love for culture and national history is being cultivated and spread on the internet. A lot of historical knowledge and anecdotes, both familiar and strange, are reminded, inspiring viewers to proactively learn and love national history more. Thuy Tien also pays great attention to topics about revolutionary wars, the life and career of Uncle Ho, heroes, veterans, historical relics, regional culture... Historical and cultural slices in short clips bring viewers not only knowledge but also foster patriotism and national pride.

Ms. Pham Thi Thuy Tien signed autographs for young readers at the book launch event of Folk Legends at Ho Chi Minh City Book Street. Photo: NVCC

To create short clips of only 2-3 minutes, Thuy Tien has to spend several days, from searching for historical sources, coming up with ideas for paintings, then filming, recording and staging. In particular, she spends a lot of time researching historical documents, consulting experts, books and newspapers, and collecting folk stories and anecdotes to distill and recreate them in a unique, attractive and concise way. Viewers not only receive information but also experience creativity through colors, learn more about national culture through the characters' costumes, landscapes, relics, antiquities...

“When I first built the channel, I couldn’t avoid making mistakes. History, if conveyed skillfully, would be very interesting, but it’s also a difficult topic, especially for young people. I realized that whatever I convey to viewers, no matter how small, has a certain influence, so I learned valuable lessons. When I start making any clip, I invest seriously, do thorough research, and accept everyone’s comments and sharing,” said Thuy Tien.

Pham Thi Thuy Tien (35 years old) was born and raised in Dong Nai, currently working in Ho Chi Minh City, with a BA in Literature and Languages, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ho Chi Minh City National University). Thuy Tien was nominated for the Inspirational Content Creator category of the Vietnam iContent Awards 2025 (Vietnam Digital Content Creator Awards), co-organized by the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and VnExpress.

Inspire exploration of national history and culture

On October 5, the book Folk Legends by Ms. Thuy Tien was introduced to the public in a unique form, both a narrative text and a coloring book. This is also an event that marks Thuy Tien stepping out of the digital space to get closer to the public through a work that contains a lot of passion and love for national culture and history.

“Through the stories, I hope that the cultural, historical and human values ​​of Vietnam will be spread closely and vividly in today's life, thereby arousing love and pride in our national origins.”

TikToker PHAM THI THUY TIEN.

Talking about the process of creating this work, Ms. Thuy Tien said that she had been working on the project for 2 years. “I realized that legendary and folk stories about historical figures and cultural beliefs are of interest to many people. Especially in the context of the development of social networks, folk stories - once our childhood memories - have become unfamiliar to children today. From that, I decided to create a series of books that convey stories that arouse the interest in learning about history for young readers" - the author of Folk Legends shared.

Through this book, children will become familiar with the legends of Lac Long Quan - Au Co, Son Tinh - Thuy Tinh, Hon Vong Phu, Tu Bat Tu..., or discover the hidden meaning behind familiar folk games such as: "Rong snake len may" or "Dung dang dung de". Each story has pages illustrating characters with meticulously drawn details, beautiful, imbued with folk culture. Thuy Tien revealed that most of the drawings in the book were hand-drawn by her. After reading the stories, readers can draw their own imaginary characters with the accompanying pictures.

According to Dr. Ha Thanh Van, when talking about history, people usually distinguish between official history, unofficial history and legendary history. Folk legends are works that can be classified as legendary. The book chooses a perspective from myths and legends to look at historical and cultural figures. This perspective makes historical figures closer and more attractive in the minds of the public, especially young audiences... The magical, attractive, and thrilling elements of myths and legends not only simply express the perspective of the people but also contribute to enhancing the fictional and imaginative abilities of young readers, while still providing specific and accurate historical knowledge. And even if viewed from a "legendary" perspective, the honoring of national heroes who have contributed to the country, cultural and historical celebrities... is still the inspiration and main spirit of this book.

Nhat Ha

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202510/ke-chuyen-su-qua-net-ve-tai-hoa-1862907/