Sung Thi Co, 97, an ethnic H’Mong artisan, is seen at the Lung Tam Linen Weaving Cooperative in Tuyen Quang Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Phuc Tai

The video, shared by American travel blogger Anjelica Castaneda during a visit to the Lung Tam linen weaving cooperative in Tuyen Quang Province, shows artisan Sung Thi Co looking up from her work and saying “hello,” a moment that quickly drew millions of views across social media platforms.

Castaneda described the elderly woman as one of the most hardworking and endearing people she had met.

A foreign tourist poses for photos with Sung Thi Co, a 97-year-old H’Mong artisan, at the Lung Tam Linen Weaving Cooperative in Tuyen Quang Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Phuc Tai

Online users around the world reacted warmly, with many commenting that the brief exchange was deeply touching and some expressing a desire to travel to Vietnam’s Tuyen Quang Province to meet the artisan in person.

Sung Thi Co is the oldest artisan at the Lung Tam cooperative, where she has worked with linen since the age of 13 and has spent more than eight decades practicing the traditional craft of beeswax drawing on fabric, a key step before dyeing H’Mong textiles.

Sung Thi Co, 97, an ethnic H’Mong artisan, draws beeswax patterns on linen fabric at the Lung Tam Linen Weaving Cooperative in Tuyen Quang Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Phuc Tai

Despite her age, she continues to walk daily to the cooperative with the aid of a cane to work on textile patterns, which are drawn entirely by hand without stencils, a process that requires precision as a single mistake can ruin an entire piece of cloth.

Co has said her hands gradually changed shape after a serious illness in her early thirties, but she recovered and continued working, developing the distinctive patterns that define her craft.

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

The Lung Tam linen weaving cooperative receives hundreds of visitors each day, and Co has become a particular draw for foreign tourists seeking photographs and interaction with an artisan whose work represents nearly a century of cultural heritage.

The cooperative has more than 130 members across nine working groups, and its traditional H’Mong linen products are exported to dozens of countries.

A foreign tourist displays a brocade bag featuring patterns drawn by Sung Thi Co, a 97-year-old H’Mong artisan, at the Lung Tam Linen Weaving Cooperative in Tuyen Quang Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Phuc Tai

Members work at the Lung Tam Linen Weaving Cooperative in Vietnam’s northern Tuyen Quang Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Phuc Tai

A foreign tourist poses for a photo with brocade souvenirs at the Lung Tam Linen Weaving Cooperative in Vietnam’s northern Tuyen Quang Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Phuc Tai