Suburban craft villages catch up with digital transformation: Learning livestreaming, writing content with AI

Once a "babbler" in digital transformation, Phuong Duc commune (Hanoi) has gone through a difficult journey to catch up with the e-commerce trend. If in the past, 66% of the commune's area was used as agricultural land, residents mainly lived on farming and traditional crafts, now people have become professional online sellers.

Every citizen becomes a digital content creator

Since the beginning of July 2025, every weekend at the headquarters of the People's Committee of Phuong Duc commune, there has always been the cheerful laughter of farmers. Not many people know that these are classes on video editing, livestreaming to sell products, and writing content using AI technology for farmers in traditional craft villages.

The story began at the end of 2023, when Phu Xuyen district built a comprehensive digital transformation program associated with promoting e-commerce. Mr. Le Van Binh - former Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Xuyen district ( Hanoi ) was the one who laid the foundation for the "rebound" of the whole district. Mr. Binh recognized the great potential of traditional craft villages but at the same time was concerned that handicraft products would only stop at the local market and would have difficulty reaching further.

People of Phuong Duc commune learn how to attract viewers when livestreaming. (Photo: Minh Son/Vietnam+)

From that vision, Phu Xuyen has issued a resolution to encourage each commune and town to have at least 200 students participating in e-commerce training classes. The goal is not only to teach how to sell online, but also to equip them with video recording and editing skills, using artificial intelligence to write articles, and exploiting platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Zalo, etc.

With drastic digital transformation efforts, Phu Xuyen district has made a strong breakthrough in e-commerce activities. In just the first 5 months of 2025, revenue from online sales channels in the district has exceeded 4,000 billion VND...

Inheriting that achievement, Phuong Duc commune (Hanoi) when switching to a two-level government model quickly took action to continue the implementation.

According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Quang - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Phuong Duc Commune, since July 1, 2025, under the two-level government model, the Party Committee and the People's Committee of the commune have met and had solutions on digital economic development plans, which is one of the key tasks in the July task, which is also the task for the last 6 months of 2025.

"Right from the early days of the two-level government model, the commune government reviewed all equipment, facilities, and infrastructure, then equipped and invested in the areas. We organized a number of training and communication activities, especially products related to traditional craft village products," Mr. Quang shared.

People are excited to approach the new sales method. (Photo: Minh Son/Vietnam+)

Since the beginning of July, every weekend the commune People's Committee headquarters has become a "technology hall." Farmers carry chairs, sit at tables, hold phones and laptops, ready to learn video recording techniques, write livestream scripts, and talk about how to use AI to create attractive titles and product descriptions to attract customers.

Mr. Do Van Viet, one of the experts who has been attached to the old Phu Xuyen district and the new Phuong Duc commune for a long time, shared: "Initially, most of the students were young people, quick to adapt to technology. The elderly, especially long-time artisans, were still hesitant and did not know how to hold the phone to film or adjust the frame. But after just a few practice sessions, they became more confident, creating rustic yet authentic livestream videos."

During the training sessions, the content does not stop at the technical part, the experts also share how to identify customer segments, the secret to telling product stories to touch viewers' emotions, methods of handling comments, answering questions, and stimulating natural interactions.

One of the most interesting things is the atmosphere of "everyone becomes a digital content creator." From young people to middle-aged women, honest farmers, everyone confidently stands in front of thousands of viewers to introduce their products or post clips they filmed themselves.

People are not only taught techniques, but also supported in building sales channels, designing booth interfaces on e-commerce platforms, managing warehouses, processing orders, and logistics. Thanks to that, many businesses are confident in expanding their scale, from a few dozen initial products to hundreds of unique designs.

Mr. Do Van Viet shares with people how to film and edit videos to post on platforms. (Photo: Minh Son/Vietnam+)

The movement spread day by day, one person shared with another, one household helped another, gradually each week dozens of videos and clips appeared promoting Phu Tuc, Dai Thang, Van Hoang rattan and bamboo products, Xuan La figurines,...

The whole Phuong Duc commune unanimously learning livestreaming is not only a vocational training activity, but also opens a new era for traditional craft villages. When technology meets culture, handmade products suddenly have a different vitality, become "digital brands" and reach tens of thousands of customers.

When the Committee hall also became a 'livestream room'

In addition to supporting training classes, Phuong Duc commune leaders also accompanied the people in livestream sales sessions. Every Saturday night, the people will come together to the commune People's Committee headquarters to livestream for about 2-3 hours. The halls at the commune People's Committee headquarters are used to become livestream rooms for the people.

The halls at the People's Committee headquarters were used as livestream rooms for the people. (Photo: Minh Son/Vietnam+)

At the age of over 70, Ms. Dang Thi Voi - one of the veteran artisans of the Xuan La figurine making village - has become a familiar face on livestreams promoting her hometown's signature products.

Without elaborate machinery or pre-written scripts, Ms. Voi’s live broadcasts are simple, rustic, yet captivating. In the gentle, simple voice of the craft village woman, viewers not only see the colorful figurines but also feel the history, love for the profession, and national pride imbued in each handful of dough and small bamboo toothpick.

Mrs. Voi enthusiastically introduced herself to hundreds and thousands of online viewers. Not only did she demonstrate how to make to he, she also told stories associated with each shape, explaining the meaning, symbolism and sophistication in each detail.

Ms. Dang Thi Voi enthusiastically introduces the craft village of making clay figurines to hundreds and thousands of online viewers. (Photo: Minh Son/Vietnam+)

Despite her age, Ms. Voi said she was very happy to be able to "use a new way to revive the old profession." Behind that naturalness is a spirit of learning, not afraid to change to adapt to the digital transformation trend, bringing the image of the craft village closer to the digital community.

Mrs. Voi's success not only inspired the villagers but also spread to many other people. They began to care about building images, brands, and creating content to reach customers through digital platforms.

Ms. Voi's story is proof that digital transformation is not just the work of young people or big cities, but when farmers and artisans dare to go online and tell their stories, then folk cultural heritage will truly have the opportunity to revive and develop.

Farmers enter the digital world not to follow the times, but to pull the whole craft village forward. And thanks to that, traditional craft village products have more opportunities to live forever in people's hearts.

Phuong Duc does not want to stop at the typical example at the commune level but is planning to spread this model to many other localities.

According to the preliminary report of the People's Committee of the commune, Phuong Duc's e-commerce revenue in the first 6 months of 2025 is estimated to reach about 300 billion VND. The target is to increase by 50-70% in the last 6 months of the year to complete the annual revenue, bringing significant income to business households.

This proves that e-commerce has truly become a new "blood vessel", connecting products from craft villages to domestic and international markets.

When technology meets tradition, not only are products digitized, but the stories, memories, and souls of the craft villages also find new ways to spread. Phuong Duc has proven: When the whole commune unites in digital transformation, no technological lag can hold back the aspirations of honest people who dare to challenge and change./.