Illuminating Edges: Borders as Institutions, Process, Space [PROOF] (original) (raw)
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The Chinese-Korean Border Issue: An Analysis of a Contested Frontier
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The use of the plural “borderlands” already in the book title unfolds the epistemological tension of considering cross-border areas as a homogeneous unit, inviting the reader to reflect on a multitude of spaces, people, economic flows, past histories, and future possibilities. While acknowledging the difficulty of weaving a constructive network of discourses among the many interactions, failures, and unresolved issues that characterise the Sino-North Korean border area (p. 17), the editors nonetheless show their ability to assemble eighteen essays that force the view on its socio-spatial complexity and challenge the traditional narrative of Chinese hegemony.
The Journal of Asian Studies, 2017
In the early twentieth century, the sovereignty of a territory north of the China-Korea Tumen River border was under severe dispute between China, Korea, and Japan. Based on a Jesuit memoir and map of Korea published in eighteenth-century Europe, a Japanese colonial bureaucrat and international law expert, Shinoda Jisaku, asserted that a vast region north of the China-Korea border should be regarded as a “no man's land.” Employing Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and European materials, this article traces the origin and evolution of such a definition. It demonstrates that the Jesuit map and description were based on false geographic information, which the Korean court deliberately provided to a Manchu official in 1713 in order to safeguard its interests. During prolonged intercommunication between diverse areas of the globe during the past three centuries, spatial and legal knowledge has been produced, reproduced, and transformed within imperial and colonial contexts.
Are Borders the Reflection of International Relations? Southeast Asian Borders in Perspective
Over the past decade, the concepts of border have gained resonance in several disciplines within social sciences. While critical theory of borders has made tremendous advancements, scarcity of the scholarship in border studies is still evident. Borders are, in general, cultural, social, territorial, geographical, political, sexual and racial separators. This article deals with geographical borders in the Southeast Asian (SEA) region. Most countries in SEA share borders with each other. Under a range of circumstances and relationships such as trade, security and migration flows take place. Southeast Asia's heterogeneity—politically, ethnically, religiously, economically, demographically and spatially—has crucial implications for neighbourly relationships, trade, border constructions, migration and refugee flows for all the countries. This article delves into the interplay between borders and heterogeneity in SEA and their outcomes. We argue that borders type determine the level of relationship between neighbouring countries and security outcome, trade and population mobility.
Polyporous Boundaries: Border Crossing in Pre-modern Sino-Chosŏn Relations
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This paper examines the history of crossing the Sino-Chosŏn borders in various contexts. The evolution of border crossing can be traced from its origins as a political mission that was part of the diplomatic ritual to its later development as an economic circuit where individuals vied for profits, and finally to its status as a public program that carried significant weight in high-level politics. Throughout its history, border crossing was characterized by its dual nature, encompassing both ritual and mundane, exotic and domestic, national and international elements. It was emblematic of the ongoing interactions between China/Chinese and Korea/Koreans, and the flows of people and goods between them. These individuals and items were re-identified and re-categorized following their crossing of the borders, and the processes of identification and categorization shed light on the political dynamics of both countries.
The border between China and Vietnam is ancient. France took over from Vietnam at the end of the 19 th century, and the demarcation of this border was a long and difficult process that took place over a period of more than ten years. It was completed in 1896 1 . For the French, Indochina, and particularly Tonkin, was a "balcony over China". But even though France participated in the "westphalization" of the Far East, the country remained haunted by the heritage of the Chinese empire and the "tributary system". In the years 1945-1947, France believed that it had snatched North Vietnam away from Chinese ambitions, returning to a status quo ante. Yet from 1949/50, the Chinese-Vietnamese border and Tonkin saw a struggle with much at stake. We will see how France "lost" this border, and how for France Tonkin became the border of French identity, since it was established as the border of the "free world", of the French Union, and of French virility. Thirdly, and finally, we will see how the "Korean model" influenced the handling of the question of Indochina, the war concluding with the creation of the demarcation at the 17 th parallel, a new "border".