Vietnamese-Chinese Relationships at the Borderlands: Trade, Tourism and Cultural Politics by Yuk Wah Chan (review)

This book examines the everyday cross-border interaction of the communities in the border towns of Hekou in China and Lao Cai in Vietnam. It assesses the local experiences of the people who take part in cross-border activities, namely trade, tourism, social networking, and marriages between spouses from opposite sides of the border. The book is the outcome of continuous observation and research in the China-Vietnam borderlands since 2002.

The underlying message of the book is that Chinese-Vietnamese interactions at the borderlands are variegated, complex, and dynamic. Supporting its argument with ethnographically rich data and analysis, the book unpacks local experiences of cross-border interactions and interstate relations as it focuses on ground-level diplomacy, historical relations, cultural prejudices, and the effects of changing state policies at the borderlands. Its bottom-up perspective is markedly different from the state-level perspectives common in the academic fields of international relations and political science. Those latter perspectives treat cross-border and interstate interactions in static and absolute terms. The book also deconstructs state-imposed logics by delving into the social and economic processes through which Chinese and Vietnamese people actually interact.

Throughout the book, a distinct qualitative approach is evident as the author provides a compelling account of the on-the-ground practices of cross-border interactions, as well as of the reality of regulation at the Hekou-Lao Cai border. In addition, the book is sensitive to the historical relationship between China and Vietnam, arguing that China-Vietnam ties have been underlined by animosity and friendliness at different periods throughout history. Chapter Four illustrates the age-old stereotypes that the Chinese and the Vietnamese have held of each other by examining the interactions between Chinese tourists and their Vietnamese hosts at the borderlands. The chapter also shows that the Vietnamese hosts generally welcome tourists from China for economic reasons, but dislike rude and culturally insensitive Chinese tourists. Despite their seemingly weak position, the Vietnamese are still able to manage the situation by “silencing” (p. 81) the tension between China and Vietnam, such as that stemming from the short but devastating 1979 military conflict between them, and highlighting the cultural similarities and historical intimacy of the two countries instead. More crucially, it argues that some Vietnamese tourism workers have shown sophistication after acquiring experience and better Chinese language skills, in negotiating the asymmetrical and sensitive Chinese-Vietnamese relationship by telling jokes to appease the Chinese tourists and to keep their arrogance at bay and thus turning potentially inimical ties into amiable ones (p. 84).

In addition to providing a historically sensitive bottom-up narrative, the book contributes to the abundant literature on guanxi (relationships). In Chapter Three, it rightly observes that there has been insufficient discussion of the side effects of patron-client guanxi between the state and the business sector, and of how such guanxi may invite official extortion and develop into a ritual of money giving. While conventional literature chiefly stresses the cooperative and symbiotic relationship between the state and the business sector, it has often overlooked the unwanted demands advanced by state agents that the business sector would like to avoid. To this end, the chapter enriches the literature on this “economy of familiarity” (p. 17) by highlighting the predatory behaviour of some state agents and the unhappiness of business owners with the lopsided nature of the system in which they find themselves entrenched. It thus succeeds in revealing the rough dimensions of the patron-client relations at the borderlands.

Despite its various merits, the book does not cover enough ground. For example, Chapter Four studies tourism from the perspective of a Vietnamese host to visiting Chinese tourists. Although Chinese outbound tourism to Lao Cai is a significant revenue-generator for the Vietnamese border town, it must be stressed that a large number of Vietnamese tourists visit Hekou, too. Yet this angle is not covered, causing one...