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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 February 2020
This article studies the collaboration between the Chinese and Vietnamese communists in the socialist transformation of their shared borderlands after the First Indochina War. It both complicates and clarifies the volatile bilateral relationship between the two emerging communist states as they solidified their power in the 1950s. Departing from traditional narratives of Sino-Vietnamese relations which focus on wars and conflicts, this article examines how the timely convergence of Cold War and state expansion transformed the Sino-Vietnamese borderlands from 1954 to 1957. Using both Chinese and Vietnamese archival sources, it contends that the Chinese and Vietnamese communists pursued two interrelated goals in carrying out the political projects at the territorial limits of their countries. First, they wanted to build an inward-looking economy and society at the respective borders by consolidating the national administration of territory. Second, they wanted to impose a contrived Cold War comradeship between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in place of the organic interdependence of people within the borderlands that had existed in the area for centuries. The Sino-Vietnamese border, therefore, was the focus of joint state-building by the two communist governments, which made the cross-border movement of people and goods more visible, manipulable, and, more importantly, taxable.
The research for this article and its earlier drafts were undertaken during my doctoral studies at George Washington University's Department of History. The research is funded by George Washington University, the Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Program in China Studies Pre-Dissertation Research Grants, and the Association for Asian Studies China and Inner Asia Council Small Grants programme. I wish to thank Edward McCord for reading and commenting on the first draft of this article. I remain indebted to Gregg Brazinsky and Shawn McHale for their scrutiny of my thoughts. I am also grateful to the anonymous readers of Modern Asian Studies for their constructive comments.
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31 Ibid.
32 Guangxi Shengwei [CCP Committee of Guangxi Province], ‘Zhonggong Guangxi shengwei guanyu jiaqiang bianfang duidi douzheng de zhishi [Instruction of the Guangxi Provincial Committee of CCP on Strengthening Border Defences and Struggling against the Enemy]’, 30 March 1955, author's personal collections.
33 Successive Chinese governments have assigned new names to the pass as a sign of the changing policies towards its southern neighbour. Preparing for a military campaign against Vietnam in 1407, the Ming court chose the name ‘Zhenyiguan’ (Barbarian Suppressing Pass). Forced to recognize Vietnamese autonomy after the failed attempt at direct rule, Beijing replaced the rather condescending phrase with ‘Zhennanguan’ (the Pass that Guards the South) in 1428. The pass is currently on the Chinese side of the border as a result of the 1887 border demarcation treaty between China and France. The Chinese communists renamed the fort ‘Munanguan’ (the Pass that Reconciles the South) in 1953. It received its present name in 1965 and is known in Vietnam as ‘Ải Nam Quan or Nam Quan’ (the South Gate).
34 Zeng, Fusheng, Youyiguan bianfang jianchazhan zhanzhi [Gazetteer of the Border Check Station of the Friendship Pass] (Nanning: Youyiguan bianfang jianchazhan zhanzhi bianweihui, 1993), p. 166Google Scholar.
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38 FCC, ‘Zhonggong fangcheng xianweihui jueyi’, pp. 2–3.
39 ‘Chỉ thị của Ban Bí thư số 34/CT-TW, ngày 7 tháng 7 năm 1956 về việc tăng cường công tác công an biên phòng (gồm biên giới, bờ bể và giới tuyến) [Secretariat's Directive No. 34/CT-TW, 7 July 1956 on the Strengthening of the Work of Border Police (including Land Border and the Coast)]’, in Đảng cộng sản Việt Nam [Communist Party of Vietnam] (ed.), Văn kiện đảng toàn tập-Tập 17 (1956) [Complete Documents of the Party no. 17: 1956] (Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Chính trị Quốc gia, 2002), pp. 278–9.
40 Ibid., pp. 279–80.
41 The first cross-border rail line between China was through Hekou and Lào Cai, and was built by the French. See Testa, David W. Del, ‘Workers, Culture, and the Railroads in French Colonial Indochina, 1905–1936’, French Colonial History, vol. 2, no. 1 (2002), pp. 181–98CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rousseau, Jean-François, ‘An Imperial Railway Failure: The Indochina-Yunnan Railway, 1898–1941’, Journal of Transport History, vol. 35, no. 1 (June 2014), pp. 1–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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43 Dangdai Zhongguo congshu bianjibu [Editorial Board of the Series on Contemporary China], Dangdai Zhongguo de tiedao shiye [Railway Industry in Contemporary China] (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1990), pp. 355–6Google Scholar.
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54 Guixi maoyi gongsi [West Guangxi Trade Company] (hereafter GMG), ‘1954 nian Zhong-Yue bianjing xiao'e maoyi gongzuo zongjie [Summary of small-scale border trade at the Sino-Vietnamese border in 1954]’, 10 March 1955, Guangxi Zhuangzu Zhizhiqu Danganguan [Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Archives] (hereafter GZZD), X1-8-364, p. 6.
55 GMG, ‘1954 nian bianjing xiao'e maoyi qingkuang [Situation of small-scale border trade in 1954]’, 10 December 1954, GZZD, X1-8-364, pp. 82–3.
56 GMG, ‘1954 nian Zhong-Yue bianjing xiao'e maoyi gongzuo zongjie’, p. 5.
57 Zhongyang Shangyebu Guangxisheng minzu maoyi diaochazu [Investigation Team of Ethnic Trade in Guangxi Dispatched by Ministry of Commerce] (hereafter ZSGMD), ‘Guangxisheng Ningmingxian Pingxiang shichang kou'an xiao'e maoyi diaocha baogao [Investigation report of border small-scale trade in Pingxiang, Ningming County, Guangxi]’, 21 May 1955, GZZD, X41-1-232, p. 103.
58 ZSGMD, ‘Guangxisheng Longjinxian Shuikou kou'an xiao'e maoyi diaocha qingkuang baogao [Investigation report of border small-scale trade in Shuikou, Longjin County, Guangxi]’, 25 May 1955, GZZD, X41-1-232, p. 110. The socialist transformation (shehui zhuyi gaizao) of handicraft and private commerce started in the second half of 1954 in China, taking the form of public-private joint management (gong si heying), which de facto eliminated the private sector. See Chen, Zhengqing, ‘Socialist Transformation and the Demise of Private Entrepreneurs: Wu Yunchu's Tragedy’, European Journal of East Asian Studies, vol. 13, no. 2 (2014), pp. 240–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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61 Fangcheng Dongxing kou'an [Dongxing port of Fangcheng] (hereafter DFK), ‘Guangxisheng Fangchengxian Dongxing kou'an gongzuo weiyuanhui baogao [Report of Dongxing Border Work Committee, Fangcheng County, Guangxi Province]’, 9 March 1955, GZZD, X1-12-267, p. 7.
62 Chen, Mao's China and the Cold War, p. 88.
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64 DFK, ‘1 yuefen gongzuo zonghe bagao [Comprehensive report for work in January]’, 18 February 1955, GZZD, X1-12-267, p. 2.
65 ZSGMD, ‘Guangxisheng Longjinxian Shuikou kou'an xiao'e maoyi diaocha qingkuang baogao’, pp. 111–12.
66 Ibid., p. 108.
67 Guowuyuan [State Council of China] (hereafter GWW), ‘Guanyu zhixing 1955 nian Zhong-Yue bianjing xiao'e maoyi yidingshu de zhishi [Instruction on implementing the protocol of Chinese-Vietnamese small-scale border trade in 1955]’, 17 August 1955, GZZD, X1-12-294, p. 1.
68 ‘Zhonghua renmin gongheguo zhengfu Yuenan minzhu gongheguo zhengfu guanyu liangguo bianjing xiao'e maoyi de yidingshu [Protocol of small-scale border trade between the PRC and the DRV]’, 7 July 1955, GZZD, X1-12-294, pp. 7–8.
69 GWW, ‘Guanyu zhixing 1955 nian Zhong-Yue bianjing xiao'e maoyi yidingshu de zhishi’, p. 2.
70 Pingxiang Zhenwei [CCP Committee of Pingxiang Township], ‘Guanyu ZhongYue bianjing xiao'e maoyi qingkuang baogao [Report of Chinese-Vietnamese small-scale border trade]’, 20 September 1955, GZZD, X1-12-293, p. 17.
71 Zhonghua renmin gongheguo Shangyebu, Duiwai Maoyibu, Caizhengbu [Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Trade, and Ministry of Finance], ‘Wei zhixing “Zhong-Yue guanyu liangguo bianjing difang guoying maoyi gongsi jinxing huowu jiaohuan de yidingshu” de zhishi [Instructions on implementing “the agreement on exchanges of commodities between local state-run companies at the border”]’, 5 September 1955, GZZD, X1-12-294, p. 25.
72 Duiwai Maoyibu [Ministry of Foreign Trade], ‘Zhengxun Zhong-Yue bianjing tingzhi xiao'e maoyi wenti [Consultation about stopping Chinese-Vietnamese small scale border trade]’, 13 April 1956, Guangdongsheng Danganguan [Guangdong Provincial Archives], 235-1-394-051~052, p. 51.
73 PTT, ‘Sô 5294 TN v/v biện pháp quản lý buôn bán qua biên giới và chống lậu ở biên giới Việt-Trung [No. 5294 TN on rules to regulate cross-border trade and struggle at the Vietnam-China border]’, 7 August 1957, TLQ III, PTT 3, no. 7642, p. 29.
74 Ibid, pp. 29–30.
75 Pingxiang shizhi bianzuan weiyuanhui [Editing Committee of Gazetteer of Pingxiang City], Pingxiang shizhi [Gazetteer of Pingxiang City] (Guangzhou: Zhongshan daxue chubanshe, 1993), p. 377.
76 For an overview of the status of Hoa kiều in North Vietnam, see Han, Xiaorong, ‘Spoiled Guests or Dedicated Patriots? The Chinese in North Vietnam, 1954–1978’, International Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 6, no. 1 (2009), pp. 1–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Access to Vietnamese primary sources on the situation of ethnic Chinese in North Vietnam during the Cold War is still very restricted. During my research at the Vietnamese National Archives Center III in Hanoi, I have seen materials on Hoa kiều in the border provinces created by UHKVB. My request to read these documents was, unfortunately, turned down.
77 Guangxisheng Waishi Weiyuanhui [Foreign Affairs Office of Guangxi] (hereafter GXWW), ‘Munanguan kou'an maoyi gouxiao jinkou yinqi Yuenan shangfan buman you [Import policy of trade company at Munanguan causing discontent among Vietnamese peddlers]’, 16 June 1955, GZZD, X1-12-293, pp. 41–2.
78 Nanning Haiguan [Nanning Customs], ‘Zhuanfa “guanyu Munanguan Aikou kou'an maoyi gouxiaozu shougou jinkou shulang yinqi Yuenan shangfan buman de tongbao” xizuzhi xuexi you [Forward “The notice about trade company at Aikou, Munan Guan, importing Shouliang Yam Rhizome and leading to discontent among the Vietnamese peddlers” and organize studies]’, 1 July 1955, GZZD, X1-12-296, p. 9.
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82 Guangxisheng Caizhengting [Bureau of Finance of Guangxi Province] (hereafter GXCZT), ‘Guanyu Zhong-Yue liangguo guojing tudi ji nongyeshui fudan wenti de qingkuang he yijian [Situation and suggestions about agricultural tax of the cross-border land between China and Vietnam]’, 17 January 1955, GZZD, X1-12-290, p. 11.
83 FCC, ‘Guanyu Zhongguo jumin zai Yuenan gengzhong tudi zhi nongyeshui zhengshou wenti [About Chinese residents paying agricultural tax for their land in Vietnam]’, 14 March 1954, GZZD, X1-12-290, p. 30.
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86 Jingxi Xianwei [CCP Committee of Jingxi County], ‘Youguan woguo zai Yuenan tudi jiaona gongliang ji ZhongzaiYue tudi jiaohuan wenti [About agricultural tax of Chinese land in Vietnam and land exchange with Vietnam]’, 8 December 1955, GZZD, X1-12-290, pp. 39–41.
87 Ibid., p. 39.
88 GXCZT, ‘Guanyu Zhong-Yue bianjing guojing tudi nongyeshui linian jiqian qingli yijian de qingshi baogao [Report seeking instruction about clearing overdue agricultural tax of cross-border land at the Sino-Vietnamese Border]’, 28 March 1955, GZZD, X1-12-290, pp. 65–66.
89 GXCZT, ‘Guanyu Zhong-Yue liangguo guojing tudi ji nongyeshui fudan wenti de qingkuang he yijian’, pp. 11–12.
90 GXWW, ‘ZhongYue shuangfang jumin guojing gengdi de nongyeshui zhengshou banfa [Methods to levy tax from cross-border cultivated land owned by Chinese and Vietnamese residents]’, 10 August 1955, GZZD, X1-12-290, pp. 4–5.
91 Dongzhong kou'an gongzuo weiyuanhui [Border Work Committee of Dongzhong port], ‘Guanyu Zhongguo jumin zai Yuenan gengzhong tudi zhi nongyeshui zhengshou wenti [About agricultural tax of land in Vietnam farmed by Chinese residents]’, 10 March 1955, GZZD, X1-12-290, pp. 29–31.
92 GXWW, ‘Fu “guanyu ZhongYue bianjing guojing tudi nongyeshui fudan wenti de yijian” [Reply to “Opinions on agricultural tax on cross-border land on Sino-Vietnamese border”]’, 17 January 1955, GZZD, X1-12-290, p. 14.
93 GXCZT, ‘Guanyu Zhong-Yue bianjing guojing tudi nongyeshui linian jiqian qingli yijian de qingshi baogao’, p. 66.
94 Shengwei Lianluobu [Liaison Department of CCP Committee of Guangxi], ‘Fu Jingxixian bianjing gongzuobu Jingbian (55) zi di27hao baogao [Reply on Report (55-27) by the Department of Border Affairs of Jingxi County]’, 16 December 1955, GZZD, X1-12-290, p. 36.
95 FCC, ‘Fangchengxian guojing gengdi, shanlin de chuli fangan (cao'an) [Draft solution of cross-border land and forest in Fangcheng County]’, 11 October 1956, author's personal collections.
96 Ibid., pp. 16–19.
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100 ‘Zhengwuyuan jiu Guangxisheng Zhong-Yue bianjie diqu Zhong-Yue liangguo renmin yaoqiu tonghun yishi pifu zhongnan xingzheng weiyuanhui [State Council's reply to the Mid-West Administrative Committee about cross-border marriage request at the China-Vietnam border area]’, 12 June 1954, in Dangdai zhongguo yanjiu suo [Institute of Contemporary China of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences] (ed.), Zhonghua renmin gongheguo shi biannian, Vol. 1954 [Chronicles of the PRC History: Vol. 1954] (Beijing: Dangdai Zhongguo chubanshe, 2009), p. 409.
101 GXWW, ‘Guanyu wosheng ZhongYue bianjing jiehun, lihun yinci er chansheng de chuguo shouxu wenti de jidian chubu yijian [Preliminary opinions on cross-border marriage and divorce and the ensuing issue of people going abroad]’, 16 June 1955, GZZD, X1-12-263, pp. 4–5.
102 GXWW, ‘Fu guanyu dizhu jiating chushen funv chujia Yuenan kefou zhunxu chujing wenti zhi chuli [Reply on whether to permit a woman from a landlord family married to Vietnamese to migrate to Vietnam]’, 14 October 1955, GZZD, X1-12-263, pp. 23–4.
103 GXWW, ‘Guanyu wosheng Zhong-Yue bianjing jiehun, lihun yincier chansheng de chuguo shouxu wenti de jidian chubu yijian [Preliminary opinions on cross-border marriage and divorce and the ensuing issue of people going abroad]’, 16 June 1955, GZZD, X1-12-263, pp. 4–5.
104 Ibid., p. 7.
105 Shengfayuan [Provincial Court of Guangxi (GXFY)], ‘Guanyu Ningmingxian Pan Shi-mao yu Yuefang funv Huang Du-jiao hunyin jiufen wenti de cailiao [Materials on marriage disputes between Pan Shimao of Ningming County and Vietnamese woman Hoàng Đô Giáo]’, 11 April 1955, GZZD, X1-12-263, p. 30; GXWW, ‘Guanyu ZhongYue bianjing liangjumin de hunyin jiufen wenti [About the marriage disputes between a Chinese and a Vietnamese citizen in the border area]’, 4 August 1955, GZZD, X1-12-263, pp. 31–2.
106 Wong, ‘Family Reform through Divorce Law in the PRC’, pp. 266, 275.
107 GXFY, ‘Dui Jingxixian Nalin kou'an gongzuo weiyuanhui qingshi baogao de yijian [Opinion on the reports of Nalin border work committee]’, 1 August 1955, GZZD, X1-12-263, p. 37.
108 ‘Trích biên bản ghi những vấn đề biên giới được trao đổi trong cuộc toạ đàm giữa đaị biểu các tỉnh Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, Hải Ninh-Việt Nam và Quẩng Tây, Quẩng Đông-Trung Quốc hợp từ ngày 6 đến 9 tháng 11 năm 1956 [Memorandum on the border issues discussed at the round table meeting between representatives of Cao Bang, Lang Son, Hai Ninh-Vietnam and Guangxi, Guangdong-China, 6–9 November 1956]’, TLQ III, UHKVB, no. 5523, p. 1.
109 Ibid., pp. 1–4.
110 Ibid., p. 3.
111 Ibid., p. 5.
112 Duiker, China and Vietnam: The Roots of Conflict, p. 40.
113 ‘Trích biên bản ghi những vấn đề biên giới được trao đổi trong cuộc toạ đàm giữa đaị biểu các tỉnh Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, Hải Ninh-Việt Nam và Quẩng Tây, Quẩng Đông-Trung Quốc hợp từ ngày 6 đến 9 tháng 11 năm 1956’, UHKVB, p. 6.
114 Ibid., p. 7.
115 Ibid. From 1952 to 1953 Beijing dispatched ethnic classification work teams to its southern border provinces to study and classify ‘ethnic minorities’. The DRV began their ethnic classification project in the 1960s. See Mullaney, Thomas S., Coming to Terms with the Nation: Ethnic Classification in Modern China (Berkeley, California: University of Press, 2012), in particular pp. 92–119Google Scholar; Ito, Masako, Politics of Ethnic Classification in Vietnam (Kyoto: Kyoto University Press, 2013), in particular pp. 33–37Google Scholar.
116 ‘Trích biên bản ghi những vấn đề biên giới được trao đổi trong cuộc toạ đàm giữa đaị biểu các tỉnh Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, Hải Ninh-Việt Nam và Quẩng Tây, Quẩng Đông-Trung Quốc hợp từ ngày 6 đến 9 tháng 11 năm 1956’, UHKVB, p. 9.
117 Guangxi Zhuangzu Zizhiqu difangzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui [Editorial Board of Gazetteers of Guangxi], Guangxi tongzhi: gong'an zhi [Gazetteer of Guangxi: Public Security] (Nanning: Guangxi renmin chubanshe, 2002), p. 693.
118 van Schendel, Willem and de Maaker, Eric, ‘Asian Borderlands: Introducing their Permeability, Strategic Uses, and Meanings’, Journal of Borderlands Studies, vol. 29, no. 1 (2014), p. 6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
119 ‘Zhonggong Guangxi shengwei guanyu Guangxi Zhong-Yue bianjing shewai wenti ji chuli yijian [CCP Guangxi Provincial Committee on coping with foreign affairs at the Chinese-Vietnamese border]’, Chinese Foreign Ministry Archives, 105-00440-02 (1), pp. 36–7.
120 Guangdong shengwei, ‘Guangdongsheng dui Guangdong he Haining liangsheng bianjing diqu yixie juti wenti de chuli yijian [Suggestion on how to solve the concrete problems between Guangdong and Hải Ninh by the CCP Committee of Guangdong]’, circa late 1956, author's personal collections.
121 ‘Guowuyuan jiu Guangdongsheng yu Yuenan guojing tudi wenti pishi Guangdongsheng renmin weiyuanhui [Instruction from State Council to Guang dong on cross-border farming between Guang dong and Vietnam]’, 28 March 1957, in Dangdai zhongguo yanjiu suo [Institute of Contemporary China of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences] (ed.), Zhonghua renmin gongheguo shi biannian, Vol. 1957 [Chronicles of the PRC History: Vol. 1957] (Beijing: Dangdai zhongguo chubanshe, 2011), p. 199.
122 Pingxiang shizhi bianzuan weiyuanhui, Pingxiang shizhi, p. 377.
123 Zeng, Youyiguan bianfang jianchazhan zhanzhi, p. 161.
124 See, in particular, Fravel, M. Taylor, Strong Borders, Secure Nation: Cooperation and Conflicts in China's Territorial Disputes (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Shen, Zhihua and Lovell, Julia, ‘Undesired Outcomes: China's Approach to Border Disputes during the Early Cold War’, Cold War History, vol. 15, no. 1 (2015), pp. 89–111CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
125 Zeng, Youyiguan bianfang jianchazhan zhanzhi, p. 132.
126 Duiker, China and Vietnam: The Roots of Conflict, p. 36.
127 See, for example, Zhai, China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950–1975, pp. 65–91; Womack, Brantly, China and Vietnam: The Politics of Asymmetry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 164–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
128 Scott, Seeing like a State.
129 Skocpol, Theda, States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), p. 41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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131 Existing literature on central-local relations in foreign affairs focuses almost exclusively on the post-Maoist era. Mingjiang Li, for instance, argues that reform, development, and the ensuing decentralization of power brought an increased role for local governments in cross-border interactions in the forms of attracting foreign investment and cooperation with regional organizations. See Li, Mingjiang, ‘Central-Local Interactions in Foreign Affairs’, in Donaldson, John A. (ed.), Assessing the Balance of Power in Central-Local Relations in China (New York, New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. 209–28Google Scholar. Discussion of central-local relations in post-reform Vietnam has largely focused on domestic issues. See Vasavakul, Thaveeporn, ‘Rethinking the Philosophy of Central-Local Relations in Post-Central-Planning Vietnam’, in Turner, Mark (ed.), Central-Local Relations in Asia-Pacific: Convergence or Divergence? (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999), pp. 166–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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133 Whitson, William W., The Chinese High Command: A History of Communist Military Politics, 1927–71 (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1973), p. 519CrossRefGoogle Scholar.