[Review] China and Vietnam: The Politics of Asymmetry by Brantly Womack

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
James A. Anderson, Associate Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Most scholars of Vietnam are well aware of the complex but significant relationship that rulers of this region have had throughout history with 'leaders of their larger northern neighbor, China. In his clear and insightful examination of the contours of this relationship, 'Brandy Womack reveals several features that have remained in effect through centuries of dynastic change, colonial intervention, and more recently, globalization. Womack has encapsulated his insights in a single observation: "China has always been a much more important presence for Vietnam than Vietnam has been for China, and Vietnam has had a more acute sense of the risks and oppor-tunities offered by the relationship" (2). Womack ascribes the two nations' radically different perspectives on their shared relationship to this underlying principle of asymmetry in Sino-Vietnamese relations.

Additional Information

Publication
Journal of Vietnamese Studies, 4, no. 3, (Fall 2009).
Language: English
Date: 2009
Keywords
Book review, Southeast Asia, China, Vietnam, Regional history

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