Imperial Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam Borderlands

by Bradley Camp Davis, Charles F. Keyes (Editor), Laurie J. Sears (Editor), Andrew Milner (Editor)

Overview

The Black Flags raided their way from southern China into northern Vietnam, competing during the second half of the nineteenth century against other armed migrants and uplands communities for the control of commerce, specifically opium, and natural resources, such as copper. At the edges of three empires (the Qing empire in China, the Vietnamese empire governed by the Nguyen dynasty, and, eventually, French Colonial Vietnam), the Black Flags and their rivals sustained networks of power and dominance through the framework of political regimes. This lively history demonstrates the plasticity of borderlines, the limits of imposed boundaries, and the flexible division between apolitical banditry and political rebellion in the borderlands of China and Vietnam.

Imperial Bandits contributes to the ongoing reassessment of borderland areas as frontiers for state expansion, showing that, as a setting for many forms of human activity, borderlands continue to exist well after the establishment of formal boundaries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295999692
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	05/01/2017
Series:	Critical Dialogues in Southeast Asian Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	236,132
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Bradley Camp Davis is assistant professor of history at Eastern Connecticut State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Note on Language xiii

Introduction: Imperial Bandits, Cultures of Violence, and Oral Traditions 3

1 Opium and Rebellion at High Altitudes 22

2 Commerce, Rebellion, and Consular Optics 50

3 Imperial Bandits and the Sino-French War 85

4 Borderline, Resistance, and Technology 121

Conclusion: Flags in the Dust 157

Notes 171

Glossary 221

Bibliography 227

Index 247

What People are Saying About This

Andrew Hardy

Bringing Hobsbawm to Southeast Asia, Davis describes the emergence of a culture of violence in northern Vietnam that enabled borderlands forces to seize the political mainstream. Drawing on rich archival and oral sources from China and Vietnam, his illuminating narrative shows how the collapse of Vietnamese imperial rule and the encroachment of French empire were assisted by bandit armies from the hills.

James A. Anderson

Examines the various degrees with which indigenous leaders used their informal authority as ‘imperial bandits’ to personal advantage.

Alexander Woodside

A fascinating and insightful recreation of the micro-realities of the political history of the very complex Sino-Vietnamese borderlands.

Peter C. Perdue

The Black Flags left an enduring legacy in the turbulent borderlands of China and Vietnam. Davis deftly untangles the complex threads that linked their culture of violence to Qing, Vietnamese, and French imperial ambitions, following the twisted tale through the nationalist movements of the twentieth century. He also vividly portrays how ordinary people suffered under the rule of these domineering frontier lords. This is an ambitious and insightful example of cross-border history.

Interviews

Based on extensive archival and ethnographic research, this book tells the story of migrants and communities in the borderlands. From southern China, the Black Flags raided their way into northern Vietnam. In the second half of the nineteenth century, they competed against other armed migrants and uplands communities for control of borderlands commerce and natural resources. At the edges of three empires, (the Qing Empire in China, the Vietnamese Empire governed by the Nguyen Dynasty, and, eventually, French colonial Vietnam), the Black Flags and their rivals sustained networks of power and dominance through the framework of political regimes. The history of these imperial bandits and the communities that resisted them demonstrates the plasticity of borderlines, the limits of imposed boundaries, and the flexible division between apolitical banditry and political rebellion in the borderlands of China and Vietnam.

Editorial Reviews

Bradley Camp Davis has delved deeper into this topic than anyone before. . . . The discussion of the borderlands in this book and the way it reveals the challenges faced by a failed state is helpful in thinking about other periods of Vietnamese history. . . . Davis’s Imperial Bandits takes us deep into one of those times when a Vietnamese state struggled to control its territory, but when we take a step back we can see parallels with other periods and places, too.

Mekong Review - Liam C. Kelley