Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T15:19:54.475Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Distinguishing Between China and Vietnam: Three Relational Equilibriums in Sino-Vietnamese Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2016

James A. Anderson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Premodern Sino-Vietnamese relations may be described by three systems of engagement that I have labeled Strong China/Weak Vietnam, Weak China/Strong Vietnam, and Strong China/Strong Vietnam. These three states of interaction appear at various points, beginning with Vietnamese encounters with the Qin empire (221–206 b.c.e.) through the early modern era. Brantly Womack has already described the historical Sino-Vietnamese relationship as politically “asymmetrical” with China playing the strongman role, and the three relational equilibriums described here do not contradict Womack's thesis. Instead, I explore how the generally asymmetrical states of affairs were molded by historical context and the specific ambitions of elite in the frontier region. While the general conditions of the Sino-Vietnamese relationship were asymmetrical, the choices available to Chinese and Vietnamese leaders in different periods varied widely.

Keywords

ChinaVietnampremodernrelationstribute systemequilibrium
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 2: Special Issue: International Relations and East Asian History: Impact, Meaning, and Conceptualization , August 2013 , pp. 259 - 280
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abadie, M. 2001. Minorities of the Sino-Vietnamese Borderland: With Special Reference to Thai Tribes. Bangkok: White Lotus Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, James. 2007. The Rebel Den of Nùng Trí Cao: Loyalty and Identity Along the Sino-Vietnamese Frontier. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Bell, Catherine. 1993. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Trans. Nice, Richard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Shou, and Pei, Songzhi. 1959. History of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo zhi). Beijing: Zhonghua.Google Scholar
Cheng, Joseph Y. S. 2011. “Sino-Vietnamese Relations in the Early Twenty-First Century.” Asian Survey 51, 2: 379–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duiker, William J. 2000. Ho Chi Minh. New York: Hyperion.Google Scholar
Dumont, Louis. 1966. Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Fairbank, J. K., and Têng, S. Y. 1941. “On the Ch'ing Tributary System.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 6, 2: 135–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Kenneth. 1999. “Economic History of Early Southeast Asia.” In The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia: Volume 1, Part 1, From Early Times to c. 1500, ed. Tarling, Nicholas, 183–275. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hoàng, Xuân Hãn, and Hà, Văn Tán. 2003. Lý Thuòng Kiêt, lick su ngoai giao và tông giáo trieu Lý [Lý Thuòng Kiêt: History of the Lý Dynasty's Foreign Affairs and Relations with the Song Empire]. Hà Nôi: Quân dôi nhân dân.Google Scholar
Holcombe, Charles. 2001. The Genesis of East Asia: 221 B.C.–A.D. 907. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Holmgren, Jennifer. 1980. Chinese Colonisation of Northern Vietnam. Canberra: Australian National University.Google Scholar
Guangxi Zhuangzu Zizhiqu di fang zhi bian zuan wei yuan hui [Committee for the Compilation of Local Gazetteers in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region] 1992. General Gazetteer of Guangxi (Guangxi tong zhi) Juan 29. Nanning: Guangxi Renmin.Google Scholar
Kang, David C. 2010. East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Kelley, Liam C. 2005. Beyond the Bronze Pillars: Envoy Poetry and the Sino-Vietnamese Relationship. Honolulu: Association for Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Li, Tana. 2011. “Jiaozhi (Giao Chi) in the Han Period Tongking Gulf.” In The Tongking Gulf Through History, ed. Cooke, Nola, Tana, Li, and Anderson, James A., 39–52. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Mearsheimer, John J. 2010. “The Gathering Storm: China's Challenge to US Power in Asia.” Chinese Journal of International Politics 3, 4: 381–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ngô, Sĩ Liên. 1993. Complete Book of the History of Đai Viêt (Đai Viêt su ký toàn thu) (1697 ed., orig. comp. 1479). Ngoai Ký, Quyên 1. Ha Noi: Nhà Xuat Ban Khoa Hoc Xã Hôi.Google Scholar
Pan, Yihong. 1997. Son of Heaven and Heavenly Qaghan: Sui-Tang China and Its Neighbors. Bellingham: Center for East Asian Studies, Western Washington University.Google Scholar
Roy, Denny. 2005. “Southeast Asia and China: Balancing or Bandwagoning?” Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs 27, 2: 305–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sima, Guang. 1969. The Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government (Zizhi tongjian). Taipei: Shijie.Google Scholar
Sima, Qian. 1999. Record of the Historian (Shiji). Beijing: Zhonghua.Google Scholar
Taylor, Keith W. 1983. The Birth of Vietnam. Berkeley: University of California.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Keith W. 1999. “The Early Kingdoms.” In The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia: Volume 1, Part 1, From Early Times to c. 1500, ed. Tarling, Nicholas, 137–182. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Toghto, , et al. 1983. Official History of the Song Dynasty (Songshi). Beijing: Zhonghua.Google Scholar
Wang, Gungwu. 1983. “The Rhetoric of a Lesser Empire: Early Sung's Relations with Its Neighbors.” In China Among Equals: The Middle Kingdom and Its Neighbors, 10th–14th Centuries, ed. Rossabi, Morris, 47–65. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Whitmore, John K. 1977. “Chiao-chih and Neo-Confucianism: The Ming Attempt to Transform Vietnam.” Ming Studies 4: 51–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Womack, Brantly. 2006. China and Vietnam: The Politics of Asymmetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodside, Alexander. 1988. Vietnam and the Chinese Model: A Comparative Study of Vietnamese and Chinese Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge, MA: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Woodside, Alexander. 1998. “Territorial Order and Collective-Identity Tensions in Confucian Asia: China, Vietnam, Korea.” Daedalus 127, 3: 191–220.Google Scholar
Zhang, Rongfang. 1995. History of the Nam Viet Kingdom (Nanyue Guo shi). Guangzhou: Guangdong renmin.Google Scholar
Zhang, Tingyu. 1974. History of the Ming Dynasty (Mingshi). Beijing: Zhonghua.Google Scholar