Studying China from the Communist Comrade's Eyes: The Diverse Tracks of Vietnam's Sinological Development*

How the small states bordering China study their giant neighbor and how they develop the discipline that brought crucial impacts to their China policies have been ignored by scholars in social sciences and area studies. This article focuses on Vietnam, a nation that has developed its own special characteristics of Sinology because of the country's distinctive historical experience and close ties with China. This study introduces the different but equally remarkable training styles of Vietnamese sinologists through two analytical threads, namely, systematic training and cultural heritage. In addition to presenting the cases of Vietnamese Sinology, this study also compares the cases of Sinological developments in other East Asian countries. Through investigation and comparison, the current research is optimistic that it can show how and why Vietnamese Sinology has maintained its richness and diversity despite the domestic and international political upheavals that this field has encountered. This research further argues that the diverse resources accumulated in the evolution of north and south Sinology enable Vietnam to maintain flexibility when interacting with China.