Introduction

When Chinese and Vietnamese address each other in public speech, they often begin with this rhetorical announcement – ‘China and Vietnam are like mountain linking mountain, water flowing into water’ – to stress the geographical connectedness as well as the relational intimacy of the two countries. Such connectedness could however be interrupted by political tension and diplomatic showdown. In the latter half of the 1970s, when Vietnam and China fell out with each other, the borderlands ¹ were places subject to great political pressures and military skirmishes. After the border war fought in February 1979, the border was abruptly closed. It was not until 1991 that Vietnam and China agreed to sign a resolution normalizing bilateral relationships and to resume cross-border contacts. The borderlands in this part of Asia have been a dramatic political space that has witnessed fluctuating political relationships between two age-old neighbours.