What to do to avoid recurrence?

Two girls wear aodai in an offensive way in Hoi An, causing irritation

Recently, on the social networking platform Tik Tok, someone shared a video of two tourists wearing Ao Dai in an offensive way in Hoi An, Quang Nam. Accordingly, these two girls wear a traditional long dress but combine it with shorts. This met with strong criticism from the Vietnamese online community.

Many people believe that the authorities need to “intervene” because this image affects the traditional beauty of Vietnamese people. Therefore, it is necessary to take “strong hand” measures, even if there are regulations to avoid the case of wearing traditional costumes that are indecent and offensive…

From another perspective, some people with a neutral opinion think that foreign tourists may not fully understand about Vietnamese traditional costumes. Therefore, we should give gentle advice instead of applying fine regulations and this is not easy to do.

In fact, this is not the first time that foreigners wearing inappropriate ao dai have caused public outrage.

Experiencing many ups and downs of history, the traditional Ao Dai is one of the most beautiful costumes of Vietnamese women. With a graceful beauty that evokes many poetic inspirations, the Ao Dai has become a cultural symbol bearing the imprint of the Vietnamese people. Therefore, wearing Ao Dai properly while respecting the beauty of the wearer but still ensuring the elegance and grace of the traditional Ao Dai is something not everyone knows, especially for foreigners.

Wearing Ao Dai in an offensive way is “uncultured”?

As a researcher of traditional costume culture, Mr. Dinh Hong Cuong – a member of the Vietnamese village communal house group and co-initiator of the project to restore the five-body Ao Dai shared with him. Vietnamese people: “I feel quite confused with the situation of two tourists wearing Ao Dai in an offensive way in Hoi An, Quang Nam.

The word “re” means that the story of a foreigner wearing a revealing ao dai, so objectionable that he didn’t wear two-legged pants once took place. And each time, the online community voiced their objections, even suggesting to the State management agencies to remind or issue fines to warn this “uncultured” behavior.

It also shows that we Vietnamese are very conscious of protecting the traditional cultural beauty through the two-body Ao Dai, and fortunately for us, the number of people who wear it wrongly or indiscriminately are just a few. a few isolated, sporadic, and infrequently repeated cases.

According to researcher Dinh Hong Cuong, the degree of influence on Vietnam’s image and culture depends on the level of cultural abuse. Are they deliberately dressing up or are they simply breaking the way according to their feelings? After being reminded, do they feel sorry and sorry for their insensitive behavior in public or still challenge the community?

From the perspective of a fashion designer, designer Quang Huy shares with Vietnamese people that it is normal for such things to happen to foreigners because their country’s culture is not Vietnamese culture. They only consider Ao Dai as a fashion product of local people to wear when traveling. They also don’t care to find out how it is, but just want to combine it themselves. Feeling strangely comfortable with them, they wear it. Simply a fashion mix… But if the wearer is Vietnamese, it’s different. Those are two categories that need to be separated to judge wear culture.

Designer Quang Huy said that in society, there are many types of people with different qualifications and aesthetic abilities. Some people have strong personalities, they like to combine costumes that cause shock, “monster”… to attract the attention of the crowd. If the crowd pays attention, they see it as achieving their goal and next time they will shock them even more (such people are a few, not the majority). It is not possible to equate a few individuals with disrespect for Vietnamese culture. Because maybe they did it on purpose to get attention.

“It is necessary to have regulations, sanctions, regulations, directives, circulars… that are legally binding, forcing all sectors of society as well as foreign tourists to understand and respect the beauty of Ao Dai culture” – Researcher Dinh Hong Cuong said. Photo: 24h

What to do for foreigners? wear aodai in a repulsive way?

In response to the question, what should be done to prevent these bad images from happening again with the Ao Dai – Vietnamese traditional costume, researcher Dinh Hong Cuong said: “The image of two girls wearing ao dai and lack of pants. in Hoi An, Quang Nam – a famous tourist destination of Vietnam, although they may not be intentional because of cultural differences and different countries, they are offensive to the people of our country in general and with international tourists in particular.

This action needs to be promptly reminded by relevant agencies such as the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam, travel companies, and even local people, deleting photos and video clips (if any). ) so that they do not repeat and spread this ridiculous behavior in public, especially in key tourist destinations. If they still intentionally violate, we will consider fines or detention according to the provisions of Vietnamese law.”

In order to avoid this situation from happening again, researcher Dinh Hong Cuong said that our communication stage is still quite slow, spontaneous and not strategic enough for this to happen again and again. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which is the governing body, must issue regulations (circulars, directives) that require the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, departments/departments, tourism industry, and tour operators in the country. and abroad must promptly learn from the above cases. At the same time, it is required to have an attitude of respect for the traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai costume, with specific instructions on how to wear and maintain the costume in accordance with regulations.

Besides, according to culturalist Dinh Hong Cuong, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Departments of Foreign Affairs and the media regularly organize cultural activities to honor this “national costume” to a large number of international friends. economy so that they understand and respect the cultural identity of Vietnam more.

“From the above unfortunate incident, it shows that we only love and honor the Ao Dai with feelings and compassion, not with statutes, sanctions, regulations … legally binding all members of society. As well as foreign tourists, they must understand and respect the beauty of the Ao Dai culture right from the time they are on the plane,” said researcher Dinh Hong Cuong.

Designer Quang Huy said: “Like fashion trends, when products appear to attract a lot of media attention, if the product is beautiful, good, and brings value, then the product will be used for a long time. durability is difficult to change, but if ridiculous products are just a temporary trend created by the media or scandals, they will be eliminated quickly when the majority of Vietnamese people respect the traditional value of the ao dai. people who will not promote those who wear offensive clothing as well as have a look and act that look down on the wrong wearer, they will immediately change”.

Designer Quang Huy also said that the traditional Ao Dai has 3 most important characteristics to be called Ao Dai: First, it is the combination of the shirt with long pants (previously there was a tendency to wear ao dai in different ways). If you wear a skirt, it’s just a Chinese fashion model, so it’s not considered a traditional ao dai but just a fashion item). Or if you don’t wear high-slit pants, go closer to the Chinese cheongsam.

Of course, called ao dai, the skirt must be knee-length, with 2 front and back flaps high at the waist. Second, it is the typical part of the sleeve, which otherwise would not be considered a traditional ao dai.