A border region ‘exuded with militant friendship’: Provincial narratives of China's participation in the First Indochina War, 1949–1954

Abstract

China's aid to Vietnam during the First Indochina War was crucial to the Vit Minh's victory over France in 1954. While China's national leaders were deeply involved in the conflict, it was officials in southwest China who bore overall responsibility for supporting the Vit Minh from 1949 until 1954. Officials from Guangxi, Yunnan, Guangdong, and Hainan Island delivered vast amounts of aid to Vietnam and established numerous schools and training programmes in China for Vietnamese soldiers and students. The amount of Chinese provincial aid to Vietnam suggests that China's contribution to the First Indochina War was far more extensive than previous scholarly inquiries have indicated and points to the overall need to reassess China's foreign relations during the Cold War within the context of border provinces and localities.

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this article was completed for a graduate seminar taught at The George Washington University in autumn 2010 and benefited enormously from Professor Shawn McHale's insightful comments and critiques. Professor Adam Cathcart (Pacific Lutheran University) also generously read through the article manuscript and provided detailed feedback.

Notes

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 [3] Lawrence and Logevall, eds., The First Vietnam War.

 [4] Guo, ed., Zhong Yue guanxi yanbian sishinian, 53.

 [5] Zhai, China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950–1975, 42; Womack, China and Vietnam, 167.

 [6] Hoàng, A Drop in the Ocean, 296.

 [7] Liu, Recast All Under Heaven. For a similar argument outside of the Chinese context, see Cumings, Dominion from Sea to Sea.

 [8] For representative examples, see Kraus, ‘Creating a Soviet ‘Semi-Colony’ in Xinjiang?’; Cathcart, ‘Nationalism and Ethnic Identity;’ Hess, ‘Big Brother is Watching;’ Cathcart and Kraus, ‘The Bonds of Brotherhood.’

 [9] Engel, ed., Local Consequences of the Global Cold War.

[10] Liu, Jianguo yilai Liu Shaoqi wengao (JYLSW), vols. 1–5. The first volume was originally published in 1998, but was significantly revised and expanded in a 2005 edition. Although Chen Jian and Yang Kuisong both utilised the 1998 edition in their respective studies on Sino-Vietnamese relations, no scholar has since used the 2005 edition or the additional volumes published in 2005 and 2008.

[11] CIA Records Research Tool (CREST).

[12] Zhang and Cheng, Xin Zhongguo junlv dashi jishi, 251.

[13] Wen, ‘Fengyutongzhou hua Yuenan – chushi Yuenan jingli fangtanlu (san),’ 125; Zhai, China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950–1975, 13; Chen, Mao's China and the Cold War, 120; Liu, JYLSW, vol. 1, 203–204.

[14] Goscha, ‘The Borders of Vietnam's Early Wartime Trade with Southern China;’ Brown, ‘From Resisting Communists to Resisting America.’ Many overseas Chinese in Vietnamese also became essentially trapped in exile. See Wang, ‘Qinli Yuenan laodongdang,’ 36–39.

[15] Westad, Decisive Encounters; 287; Liu, JYLSW, vol 1, 197–200.

[16] Li, Zhang Yunyi nianpu, 172–173; Zhai, China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950–1975, 26.

[17] Westad, Decisive Encounters, 288; Song, Song Renqiong huiyilu, 253; Zhonggong zhongyang dangshi yanjiushi, Song Renqiong jinian wenji.

[18] CREST No. CIA-RDP79T01049A000100090001-7.

[19] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 1, 237–238.

[20] Zhong Yue guanxi yanbian sishinian , 26.

[21] Chen, Mao's China and the Cold War, 123.

[22] Wen, ‘Wu Yuanjia jiangjun,’ 39.

[23] Guangxi tongzhi: waishi zhi, 41.

[24] On Sino-French relations during the period under study, see Xing, Le temps de soupçon.

[25] Hoàng, A Drop in the Ocean, 274–309.

[26] Cathcart and Kraus, ‘The Bonds of Brotherhood.’

[27] Guangxi tongzhi: waishi zhi , 43; Nanning shi zhi: zhengzhi juan, 730.

[28] Hoàng, Selected Works, 97–98; Luo, ‘Chushi Yuenan zhichu,’ 12–13; Wen, ‘Fengyutongzhou hua Yuenan – chushi Yuenan jingli fangtanlu (san),’ 126.

[29] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 1, 572–574; Zhai, China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950–1975, 22–23.

[30] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 117–118.

[31] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 266–268.

[32] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 3, 286, 454.

[33] Guangxi tongzhi: da shiji , 267; Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 632–633; CREST Nos. CIA-RDP82-00457R006000550007-2, CIA-RDP82-00457R006100790006-6.

[34] Guangxi tongzhi: waishi zhi, 44; Nanning shi zhi: zhengzhi juan , 730.

[35] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 154; Liu, JYLSW, vol. 3, 271.

[36] Hoàng, Selected Works, 97–98.

[37] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 5, 179–180.

[38] Chen, ‘China and the First Indo-China War,’ 98.

[39] CREST Nos. CIA-RDP82-00457R009400580005-4, CIA-RDP82-00457R010200260001-3. While Chinese sources do not corroborate the existence of this committee, Nguyn Dài Chí was certainly a representative of the DRV in China. See Pernot, ‘L'armée de l'Air en Indochine et le problème chinois,’ 104.

[40] Zhang and Cheng, Xin Zhongguo junlv dashi jishi, 273; Zhong Yue guanxi yanbian sishinian, 28; Li, A History of the Modern Chinese Army, 213; CREST No. CIA-RDP82-00457R006700230007-9.

[41] CREST No. CIA-RDP82-00457R011000290004-8; Huang, ed., Pingxiang shi zhi, 5, 232.

[42] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 3, 282–283; CREST No. CIA-RDP82-00457R008300100001-2. Zhang Yunyi also helped to coordinate the arrival of ailing Vietnamese cadre in Guangxi. See Liu, JYLSW, vol. 3, 33–34.

[43] Li, A History of the Modern Chinese Army, 212–213.

[44] Marr, ‘Beyond High Politics.’

[45] Wen, ‘Fengyutongzhou hua Yuenan – chushi Yuenan jingli fangtanlu (si),’ 99; Wen, ‘Wei Guoqing jiangjun,’ 3.

[46] Liu et al., eds., Li Tianyou jiangjun zhuan , 381. Wen, ‘Wu Yuanjia,’ 41.

[47] Fan and Liu, Zhong Yue bianjing maoyi yanjiu, 114.

[48] Song, Song Renqiong Yunnan gongzuo wenji.

[49] Guangxi province shipped 1533 tons of grain to Vietnam in July 1950 in support of the Border Campaign. See Guangxi tongzhi: da shiji, 272.

[50] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 249. As early as September 1949, Deng Xiaoping had sounded out warnings to cadres in the southwest that grain shortages would be the biggest problem encountered by the PLA. See Brown, ‘From Resisting Communists to Resisting America.’

[51] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 258.

[52] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 157–158; Song, Song Renqiong Yunnan gongzuo wenji, 478–480.

[53] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 21.

[54] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 630, 632–633.

[55] Wen, ‘Wu Yuanjia jiangjun,’ 43. The currency, coincidentally, was printed in China.

[56] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 3, 39–40.

[57] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 3, 674–676.

[58] Nguyen, ‘The War Politburo,’ 15.

[59] Stowe, ‘Money and Mobilization.’

[60] Zhang, ‘Di yici Yinduzhina zhanzheng,’ 7.

[61] Wen, ‘Fengyutongzhou hua Yuenan – chushi Yuenan jingli fangtanlu (san),’ 126.

[62] Zhang and Cheng, Xin Zhongguo junlv dashi jishi, 270; Wang, ‘Yuenan bianjie zhanyi,’ 108–109; Qian, Zai shenmi de zhanzheng zhong, 4; Hong, Gongheguo jianguo neimu, 175. The 36th Regiment, however, was never able to cross the border due to a French attack.

[63] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 186–187.

[64] Qian, Zai shenmi de zhanzheng zhong, 35, 41, 44–45; Qian, Mimi zhengzhan, vol. 1, 56–67; CREST No. CIA-RDP82-00457R002800760002-0.

[65] Zhang and Cheng, Xin Zhongguo junlv dashi jishi, 270; Qian, Mimi zhengzhan, vol. 1, 63; Jin, Wu Xiaomin shaojiang, 487, 493–494.

[66] Wen, ‘Wu Yuanjia jiangjun,’ 39; Yanshan xianzhi , 17.

[67] Hong, Gongheguo jianguo, 174, 177.

[68] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 186–187.

[69] Zhang and Cheng, Xin Zhongguo junlv dashi jishi, 269; CREST Nos. CIA-RDP82-00457R005600590009-1, CIA-RDP82-00457R005600510005-3, CIA-RDP91T01172R000400200009-8, CIA-RDP82-00457R006000110003-4.

[70] Bergère, Sun Yat-sen, 179–184.

[71] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 426–429. See also CREST Nos. CIA-RDP82-00457R007100400002-1, CIA-RDP82-00457R007100690003-9.

[72] Jingxi xianzhi , 30; Liu, JYLSW, vol. 3, 380–381; Qian, Mimi zhengzhan, vol. 2, 364; CREST No. CIA-RDP82-00457R006100290002-5.

[73] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 43–44.

[74] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 73–75, 82–83; Zhou, Jianguo yilai Zhou Enlai wengao, 329–330.

[75] Li, ‘Xiang Mao Zedong chengdi guoshu,’ 50–51; Song, Song Renqiong huiyilu, 253; Cao, ed., Shenmi zhimen, 131; Hoàng, A Drop in the Ocean, 292.

[76] Qian, Mimi zhengzhan, vol. 2, 365–366.

[77] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 3, 168–169.

[78] Chen, ‘Guilin, enqing shenhou de defang,’ 64–65.

[79] Li, ‘Xiang Mao Zedong chengdi guoshu,’ 50–51.

[80] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 3, 498–499.

[81] Huang, ‘Hu Zhiming peiyang qingshaonian rencai,’ 3–7.

[82] Nguyn, ‘The War Politburo,’ 32; He, ‘1959nian Hu Zhiming mifang Lushan,’ 45.

[83] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 266–268.

[84] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 269–270.

[85] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 535–536.

[86] Guangxi tongzhi: da shiji, 281.

[87] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 3, 43–45, 422–424; CREST No. CIA-RDP82-00457R008600600007-8. It was not uncommon for French aircraft to cross into Chinese territory during the First Indochina War. See Huang, ed., Pingxiang shi zhi, 4–5, 208–209.

[88] Huang, ‘Hu Zhiming peiyang qingshaonian rencai,’ 4–5; Chen, ‘Guilin, enqing shenhou de defang,’ 65.

[89] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 2, 580; Huang, ‘Hu Zhiming peiyang qingshaonian rencai,’ 4.

[90] Liu, JYLSW, vol. 3, 382–386.

[91] Huang, ‘Hu Zhiming peiyang qingshaonian rencai,’ 4; Guangxi tongzhi: waishi zhi, 44; Nanning shi zhi: zhengzhi juan, 731.

[92] Liu, ‘Guangxi shifan daxue,’ 54; Guo, ed., Zhong Yue guanxi xin shiqi, 25.

[93] He, ‘1959nian Hu Zhiming mifang Lushan,’ 42–46.

[94] Li, ‘Zai Zhongguo tudi shang de Yuenan xuexiao,’ 54.

[95] For one such study, see Zhang, ‘Zhongguo dui Yuenan jingji jishu yuanzhu de lishi qibu.’

[96] Li, ‘Zai Zhongguo tudi shang de Yuenan xuexiao,' 56.

[97] Chen, ‘Guilin, enqing shenhou de defang,’ 65.

[98] Dangdai Guangxi yanjiusuo, ‘Wo yuan yu zizhiqu dang'an ju lianhe ketizu fangwen Yuenan, Laowo.’