Cao Bằng's walk

Presentation

Located on Vietnam's northern border and endowed with rugged terrain, Cao Bằng province, home of the Tày, was long considered a remote, barbaric, unhealthy and potentially dangerous area for the Kinh from the delta. To properly administer this frontier zone, the sovereign had to accept the privileges of the native chiefs while maintaining his own prerogatives such as symbolic elements.

But from 1820, aiming to integrate this region into the country's official administrative system, Emperor Minh Mạng carried out a policy to eliminate the power of the border guards. This reform is considered the first, and indeed the most violent, offensive by central power against indigenous chiefs in mountainous areas.

This monograph sheds light on the relationship between the monarchy and local powers in Cao Bằng from the origins to the consequences of Minh Mạng's reform, including the political rivalry between local chiefs on the local level. This retrospective study offers a fresh look at the process of integrating the frontier marches of northern Vietnam and the difficulties encountered by the court of Hué in its management of the frontier regions.

Author

Nguyễn Thị Hải, teacher-researcher at the École normale supérieure in Thái Nguyên (Vietnam), defended her thesis in history and civilization at Paris Diderot University in 2016. She is pursuing research on the regions on the borders of Vietnam and China.

292 pages
16 x 24 cm
Publication: 01/09/2019
ISBN: 9782858312832