Elderly Vietnamese artisan wins hearts online with simple ‘hello’

A video by American travel blogger Anjelica Castaneda featuring 97-year-old H’Mong artisan Sung Thi Co has gone viral, captivating millions. Co, the oldest artisan at the Lung Tam linen weaving cooperative, continues her meticulous craft despite her age. The cooperative attracts many visitors interested in Vietnam’s cultural heritage.

A short video shared by American travel blogger Anjelica Castaneda during a visit to the Lung Tam linen weaving cooperative in Tuyen Quang Province has captured global attention, drawing millions of views across social media.

Sung Thi Co, 97, ethnic H’Mong artisan at Lung Tam Linen Weaving Cooperative, Tuyen Quang Province. | Photo: Phuc Tai.

The clip shows Sung Thi Co, an elderly artisan, briefly looking up from her work to say a simple “hello.” The quiet exchange resonated widely, with viewers describing the moment as deeply moving and many expressing a desire to visit Tuyen Quang to meet her in person.

Castaneda described Co as one of the most hardworking and endearing people she had encountered during her travels.

A foreign visitor with Sung Thi Co, 97, H’Mong artisan at the Lung Tam Linen Weaving Cooperative, Tuyen Quang Province, northern Vietnam. | Photo: Phuc Tai

At 90 years old, Sung Thi Co is the oldest artisan at Lung Tam. She began working with linen at the age of 13 and has spent more than eight decades practising beeswax drawing on fabric, a meticulous hand-drawn technique that precedes the dyeing of traditional H’Mong textiles. The process requires absolute precision – one small mistake can ruin an entire piece of cloth.

ung Thi Co, 97, H’Mong artisan, applies beeswax patterns to linen at the Lung Tam Linen Weaving Cooperative, Tuyen Quang Province, northern Vietnam. | Photo: Phuc Tai

Despite her age, Co continues to walk to the cooperative each day with the aid of a cane, drawing intricate patterns entirely by hand, without stencils. She has shared that her hands changed shape after a serious illness in her early thirties, yet she recovered and continued her craft, gradually developing the distinctive motifs that define her work today.

The left hand of Sung Thi Co, a H’Mong artisan with 84 years of experience in traditional beeswax drawing on linen, at the Lung Tam Linen Weaving Cooperative, Tuyen Quang Province, northern Vietnam. | Photo: Phuc Tai.

The Lung Tam linen weaving cooperative welcomes hundreds of visitors daily and has become a meaningful stop for travellers seeking authentic encounters with Vietnam’s living cultural heritage. With more than 130 members across nine working groups, the cooperative produces traditional H’Mong linen products that are now exported to dozens of countries worldwide.