1. For the importance Vietnam places on its own sinological tradition, and information on key earlier figures, see Ngoc Lien, Ta, “Independent research work conducted by Vietnamese scholars in the past on Chinese culture,” in Hoang, Viet and Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies (ed.), Nghien Cuu Trung Quoc Men Dai (Some Problems of the Study of Modern China) (English translation as published) (Hanoi: Social Sciences Publishing House, 1985).Google Scholar The work of Brantly Womack, Robert Ross and others has enriched understanding of Sino-Vietnamese relations.

2. These include Tran Quang Co, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, much of the senior staff of the China Department of the Foreign Ministry and the small China Research Division of the Institute for International Relations, other Foreign Ministry and Institute staff, several senior officials in the External Relations Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party and the Vietnamese Ministry of Defence and Army, and many middle and lower level officials throughout the bureaucracy.

3. These include Luu Bich Ho, Director of the Institute of Development Strategy under the State Planning Commission, other leading economic research personnel, and several leading officials at the National Economics University (Hanoi).

4. These include Dang Xuan Ky, Director of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought (and member of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party) and Tran Hau, Director of Research at the Institute for Marxism-Leninism.

5. Presently including Nguyen Huy Quy, Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies in the National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities, Hoang Nhu Ly, Director of the China Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi, Chu Cong Phung, Chief of the China Research Group in the Institute for International Relations in Hanoi, and perhaps several others. The institutions and the roles of these individuals are discussed in more detail below.

6. In addition to the groups mentioned below, it is thought that the Party also supports an intelligence division which focuses some of its work on China. Such a grouping would probably be a significant contributor to Party research and analysis.

7. Executive Vice-Chairman Pham Van Chuong, also a member of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party and a fluent English speaker who worked closely with American anti-war activists in the 1960s and 1970s, meets some of the few Western visitors to see the Party External Relations Commission. He also speaks some Chinese. Vice-Chairman Nguyen Van Son also takes on some foreign affairs responsibilities with Americans and others from Western countries.

8. Several Commission research staff are expected to conduct research or study advanced Chinese in China during 1995 and 1996 with assistance from the Ford Foundation.

9. Truong Chinh is a pseudonym, meaning “Long March,” and Chinh was regarded for most of his career as a “pro-China” member of the Vietnamese Party leadership. But others dispute both the legitimacy of categorizing Vietnamese Party leaders by their so-called “pro-Soviet” or “pro-Chinese” orientation and the explanatory power of those distinctions. A very useful recent discussion of Vietnamese Party politics and structure is Gareth Porter, Vietnam: The Politics of Bureaucratic Socialism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993).

10. A recent publication from the Institute is Nguyen Dang Thanh, Cai Cach Nong Nghiep va Nong Thon Trung Quoc (Reform in Chinese Agriculture and Rural Areas) (Hanoi: National Political Publishing House, 1994). Nguyen Dang Thanh is a researcher at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism.

11. Institute Deputy Director Vu Huu Ngoan has edited a collection sponsored by the Information Institute within the Institute of Marxism-Leninism entitled Trung Quoc[:] Cai Cach - Mo Cua (China[:] Reform – Opening) (Hanoi: Theoretical Information Press, 1992). Chapters by Institute researchers focus on rural and urban economic reform, foreign trade and investment, and political reform. Deputy Director Ngoan was a member of the Vietnamese delegation to the fourth Vietnamese–American Dialogue held by the Aspen Institute in early 1993 and is the senior official in charge of foreign affairs at the Institute.

12. One publication by the Academy, in a reference materials series intended for cadres and researchers, is Centre for Information and Materials, Nguyen Ai Quoc Academy (ed.), Kinh Nghiem Xay Dung Dae Khu Kinh Te o Trung Quoc (The Experience of Building Special Economic Zones in China) (Hanoi, 1993).Google Scholar Vice President Tran Ngoc Hien, an economist, is the senior official in contact with foreign scholars.

13. Director Hoang Nhu Ly was trained at Beijing University for five years in the early 1960s, returning to Vietnam at the beginning of the Cultural Revolutaion. He served three terms in the Vietnamese Embassy in Beijing, the last as Minister-Counsellor from 1988 to 1990, and then returned to Hanoi to become Director of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry's China Department in 1991.

14. That pattern is repeated in many of the regional departments of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry. Vietnamese social science capacity, including area studies, remains quite weak, and the specialized regional departments of the Foreign Ministry – such as the China Department, or the Americas Department – usually have a broader research and analysis role to serve Party and government leaders, to compensate for the lack of other research and analysis capacity, and to provide information for their own work.

15. Nguyen Trac Ba, in the International Career Associate Programme at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California at San Diego, supported by the Ford Foundation.

16. Several Department staff are expected to conduct research or study advanced Chinese in China in 1995 and 1996 with assistance from the Ford Foundation.

17. Given the strategic importance of China to Vietnam, the Ministry's small policy planning staff does conduct analysis of Chinese foreign policy and China's regional and global roles. But it does appear to work closely with, and relies upon, the Ministry's China Department in its work relating to China.

18. The Institute hosts this programme; foreign faculty are selected by the Program for International Studies in Asia of the American Council of Learned Societies.

19. Chu Cong Phung's articles include Phung, “Trung Quoc Sau Dai Hoi 14 – Tang Toe va Sue Can” (“China after [the] 14th Congress – escalation and obstacles”), Nghien Cuu Quart He Quoc Te (International Studies) No. 1 (September 1993), pp. 6–10; “Tim Hieu Van De Bung No Dan So va Tac Dong Xa Hoi Cua No” (“Understanding the population explosion [in China] and its social effects”), in Centre for Chinese Studies (ed.), Nghien Cuu Trung Quoc: Mot So Van De Kinh Te-Van Hoa (Research on China: Some Economic and Cultural Issues) (Hanoi: National Political Press, 1994), pp. 29–34; ”Trung Quoc Nam 1993: Mot So Thanh Tuu va Van De” (“China in 1993: achievements and problems”), Nghien Cuu Quan He Quoc Te, No. 3 (March 1994) pp. 27–31 and numerous other work for publicly circulated and internal publications. He is probably the most frequently published Vietnamese research analyst of China.

20. In addition to Chu Cong Phung's extensive work, another example of published work by a member of the Institute's China Research Group staff is Huong Ly, “Cac Khu Che Xuat cua Dai Loan” (“Export processing zones on Taiwan”), Nghien Cuu Quan He Quoc Te, No. 3 (March 1994), pp. 42–47.

21. The Director-General of the Institute is Assistant Foreign Minister Dao Huy Ngoc. Several China Research Group and other Institute staff are expected to conduct research or study advanced Chinese in China in 1995 and 1996 with assistance from the Ford Foundation.

22. An example of work by the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade is Trade Information Centre, Ministry of Trade (trans.), Luat Thuong Mai Trung Quoc (Chinese Foreign Trade Law) (Hanoi, 1993, internal circulation).

23. Xiguan, Gao, Thang, Li (chief eds., names retranslated from Vietnamese), Mai, Quoc Lien, Hoang, Tuyet Nga, Boi, Dung, Khong, Due, Tang, Hy, Vu, Van Kinh (trans.), Bon Muoi Nam Kinh Nghiem Dai Loan (Forty Years of Experience on Taiwan) (Hanoi: National Assembly, 1992).Google Scholar The volume reprints in Vietnamese translated essays by Taiwan policy makers and policy research personnel on economic reform, property and land, finance and trade, human resources, trade and technology transfer, export zones and other subjects.

24. Discussions in Hanoi with Ministry of Defence and Foreign Ministry officials, November 1993 to February 1994.

25. The formal name in Vietnamese for the Institute is Trung Tarn Nghien Cuu Trung Quoc, which more accurately translates as “Centre for Chinese Studies.” In deference to the term used by Vietnamese colleagues in their publications, correspondence and cards, and preferred by them, the term “Institute of Chinese Studies” is used throughout. In Vietnamese academic structures, an institute (vien) is the core unit of academic research and specialized centres (trung tarn) often develop into vien. (This is not the case at the national, multi-disciplinary level, where the standard structure is a “national centre” (trung torn quoc gia), typified by the National Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities, and the National Sciences Centre.) The Chinese translation used by the Institute is “Zhongguo yanjiusuo.”

26. The Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies under the NCSSH was for many years the research home for work on Japan, China, the United States, the Soviet Union (and then the former Soviet Union and republics) and other countries. In late 1993 the Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies was divided into four research centres on China, Japan, the United States and Russia and FSU studies. Decision No. 466 of the Prime Minister establishing the Institute of Chinese Studies and the other regional institutes was promulgated on 13 September 1993.

27. Going somewhat further, a senior Vietnamese Foreign Ministry official identified the Institute in February 1994 as “the only one” conducting research on China in Vietnam. Personal communication, Government Guest House, Hanoi, 28 February 1994.

28. Decision No. 320/KHXH-TC of 9 December 1993 of the President of the National Center for the Social Sciences and Humanities on the Functions, Tasks and Organizational Structure of the Institute of Chinese Studies, in Centre for Chinese Studies (ed.), Nghien Cuu Trung Quoc: Mot So Van De Kinh Te-Van Hoa (Research on China: Some Economic and Cultural Issues) (Hanoi: National Political Publishing House, 1994), back page.

29. Key researchers include Minh Hang, a specialist in Chinese economic reform and politics, Do Tien Sam, a specialist in economic reform, Tran Van Do, a specialist in the history of Vietnam–China relations, and Le Van Sang, a specialist in Chinese literature. These and other Institute research staff are expected to conduct research in China in 1995 and 1996 with assistance from the Ford Foundation.

30. See Nguyen Huy Quy, “Vi Mot Nen Trung Quoc Hoc Viet Nam” (“Towards a Vietnamese sinology”), in Centre for Chinese Studies (ed.), Nghien Cuu Trung Quoc: Mot So Van De Kinh Te-Van Hoa, pp. 5–9. Portions of this essay appear below in translation.

31. Professor Quy is listed as a significant contributor to a 1991 Vietnamese volume on Chinese culture: Le Giang (ed.), Mot So Net ve Van Hoa Trung Quoc (Some Topics in Chinese Culture) (Hanoi: Truth Publishing House, 1991); and is the author of a volume on Sun Zi and other elements of ancient Chinese military strategy published by the People's Army Publishing House in Hanoi in 1993. He has also written volumes on Soviet history and diplomatic history.

32. Professor Quy appears to be a primary translator of Chinese political documents for distribution to Party leaders and members, cadres, academics and others in Vietnam. The volumes for which he has served as lead translator include a 1992 edition of key Chinese Party documents. Nguyen Huy Quy (trans.), Giang Trach Dan [Jiang Zemin], Ly Bang [Li Peng], Chu Nghia Xa Hoi Mang Mau Sac Trung Quoc (Socialism with Chinese Characteristics)(Hanoi: Truth Publishing House, 1992). In 1993, during the run-up to an important mid-term conference of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Professor Quy served as lead translator for Ban ve Van De Chong Dien Bien Hoa Binh (A Text on the Problem of Resisting Peaceful Evolution) (Hanoi: National Political Publishing House, 1993), a translation of a volume issued by the China People's Public Security Press in 1991. This was later reported by the Far Eastern Economic Review to have been circulated to Party cadres as study material in advance of the January 1994 mid-term Party conference. It was reprinted in Hanoi in early 1994, and at that time was relabelled “for internal circulation” (luu hanh noi bo). Professor Quy also appears to have access to reporting and information on China that some of his Vietnamese colleagues do not have.

33. Despite their overwhelmingly political content, these texts are of real interest to scholars. Vietnam Courier (ed.), The Hoa in Vietnam (Dossiers I and II) (1978) (in English); Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ed.), Su That ve Quan He Viet Nam – Trung Quoc trong 30 Nam Qua (The Truth on Vietnam–China Relations Over the Past 30 Years) (Hanoi: Truth Publishing House, 1979)Google Scholar; Le, Hoang and Doan Hoi, Khong, That Bai Tham Hai cua Quan Trung QuocXam Luoc (The Humiliating Defeat of Chinese Military Aggression (Hanoi: Truth Publishing House, 1979)Google Scholar;Toi Ac Chien Tranh cua Bon Banh Truong Trung Quoc Doi Voi Viet Nam (The War Crimes of the Chinese Expansion ist Gang Against Vietnam) (Hanoi: Truth Publishing House, 1980); Anh Dung, Nguyen, Ve Chu Nghia Bang Truong Dai Han trong Uch Su (Great Han Expansionism in History) (Hanoi: Theoretical Information Publishing House, 1982)Google Scholar; Nhung Trang Tieu Su Chinh Tri cua Mao Trach Dong (Some Pages of a Political Biography of Mao Zedong) (translated from Russian volume by Vladimirov and Ryazansev, Truth Publishing House, 1983); Hong, Nam and Hong, Linh (eds.), Nhung Trang Su Ve Vang cua Dan Toe Viet Nam Chong Phong Kien Trung Quoc Xam Luoc (Some Glorious Pages of History of the Vietnamese People in Resistance to Feudal Chinese Aggression (Hanoi: Social Sciences Publishing House, 1984)Google Scholar; Institute of Marxism-Leninism (ed.), Mot So Dae Diem cua Chu Nghia Banh Truong Trung Quoc Chong Viet Nam – Lao – Cam Pu Chia (Some Characteristics of Chinese Expansionism Against Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) (Hanoi: Theoretical Information Publishing House, 1984).Google Scholar

34. Chu Nghia Mao Khong Co Mao (Maoism without Mao) (Hanoi: Theoretical Information Publishing House, 1982); Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies (ed.), Hoi Thao ve Phuong Phap Nghien Cuu Trong Quoc Hoc (A Discussion on Methods in Sinology) (1983); Van Trong (ed.), Trung Quoc Tu Mao Den Dang (China from Mao to Deng) (1984); Hoang Viet and Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies (ed.), Nghien Cuu Trung Quoc Hien Dai (Some Problems of the Study of Modern China) (English translation as published) (1985).

35. Institute of Social Science Information, Vietnam Social Sciences Committee (ed.), Quan Ly Kinh Te o Trung Quoc Hien Nay (Tap I Tim Hieu Kinh Nghiem Quan Ly Kinh Te o Trung Quoc) (Economic Management in China Today (Vol. I Understanding the Experience of Economic Management in China)) (Hanoi, 1988); Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies (ed.), Suu Tap Trung Quoc Cai Cach Va Phat Trien (Collection on Chinese Reform and Development) (2 vols., 1989); Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies (ed.), Tham Khao Ve Kinh Te Trung Quoc (Consultations on the Chinese Economy) (1990);Nhung Van De Ly Luan Cua Cuoc Cai Cach Kinh Te o Trung Quoc (Theoretical Problems of the Economic Reform Process in China) (Hanoi: Truth Publishing House, 1991) (originally published by the Institute of Social Sciences Information under the Soviet Academy of Sciences, 1988); Thanh Pho Mo Cua (Ly Luan va Thuc Tien Cai Cach The Che Kinh Te o Trung Quoc). (Open Cities[:] Theory and Practice of the Reform of the Economic System in China (Hanoi: Truth Publishing House, 1991); Nguyen Due Su (ed.), Trung Quoc Tren Duong Cai Cach (China on the Road of Reform) (1991). The China on the Road of Reform volume (1991) was perhaps the most significant of these works. It included essays on the political and economic bases for reform by Nguyen Due Su, leader of the earlier Chinese studies group in the Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies, on economic reform by Nguyen Minh Hang, political reform by Tran Le Sang (both of the Chinese studies group), and development policy and political security by Van Trong, then Director of the Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies and a senior specialist on Chinese affairs.

36. Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies (ed.), Nhung Nen Kinh Te “Than Ky” Chau A (The Economic “Miracles” of Asia) (2 vols., 1990); Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies (ed.), Dai Loan–Cai Gia Cua Thanh Cong (Taiwan-The Price of Success) (1991). A research fellow at the Institute for International Affairs in Taipei visited the Institute for International Relations in Hanoi in October 193 and his views were later published as Tran Hong Du [Chinese name translated], “The political-economic base for the economic development of Taiwan,” Nghien Cuu Quan He Quoc Te, No. 2 (December 1993), pp. 42–47.

37. An example is Nhung Quy Dinh ve Bao Ve An Ninh, Trat Tu Tren Vung Bien Gioi Viet Nam-Trung Quoc (Regulations on Protecting Security and Order on the Vietnam-China Land Border) (Hanoi: People's Public Security Publishing House, 1992).

38. Two examples of work on Chinese culture are Le Giang, Mot So Net ve Van Hoa Trung Quoc (Some Topics in Chinese Culture) (Hanoi: Truth Publishing House, 1991), and Do Dinh Hang, Nhung Nen Van Minh Rue Ro Co Xua (Shining Ancient Civilizations [series]:Chinese Civilization) (Hanoi: People's Army Publishing House, 1994).

39. Phung, Thi Hue (trans.), Bo Luat Hinh Su cua Nuoc Cong Hoa Nhan Dan Trung Hoa (The Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China) (Hanoi: National Political Publishing House, 1994)Google Scholar; Phung, Thi Hue (trans.), Bo Luat To Tung Hinh Su cua Nuoc Cong Hoa Nhan Dan Trung Hoa (The Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China) (Hanoi: National Political Publishing House, 1994).Google Scholar A recent Ministry of Justice publication is Institute of Legal Research, Ministry of Justice (ed.), He Thong cac Co Quan Tu Phap cua Trung Quoc (China's System of Legal and Judicial Institutions) (1992).

40. I am grateful to Professor Nicholas Lardy for sharing his notes and impressions of his discussion with Institute staff.

41. Nguyen, Due Su (ed.), Nghien Cuu Trung Quoc 1992 (Studies of China, 1992) (Hanoi: Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies, National Centre for the Social Sciences, 1992).Google Scholar Chapters include Nguyen Due Su, “A preliminary investigation of ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ ”; Ho Viet Hanh, ”The Chinese ‘primary stage of socialism’ ”; Dao Duy Dat, “The Military Obligation Law of the People's Republic of China”; Dinh Cong Tuan, “Issues in theory and implementation of the various forms of foreign-related economic activities in China”; Hoang Hai, “The attraction of foreign investment capital to China”; Nguyen Dang Lan Ann, “Sino-Japanese economic relations and trade in the 1980s and prospects”; Nguyen Cong Thanh, “New aspects of Indian–Chinese relations”; Tran Do, “Research on Vietnam in China, 1978–1990”; Vu Phuong, “The Hoa people of Vietnam and the 1911 Revolution”; Nhat Ann, “The influence of the 1911 Revolution on the Vietnamese Revolution”; Nguyen Ba Phai, “The premises of the Taiwanese economic take-off”; Tran Le Sang, “A visit to the native region of the great Chinese writer Lu Xun”; Thai Phuong, “The first drama case to go to court in China”; Hai Phung, “The struggle over the ‘flexible frontier’.”

42. Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies (ed.), Su Dieu Chinh Chinh Sach cua Cac Nuoc Khu Vuc Chau A va Thai Binh Duong Trong Thoi Gian Gan Day (The Readjustment Policies of Nations in the Asian and Pacific Region in Recent Times) (Hanoi: Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies, 1993).Google Scholar Chapters include Tran Le Sang, “Development and readjustment in China”; Nguyen Minn Hang, “The Chinese economy in the 1990s: new adjustments”; Ding Cong Tuan, “A question for our era - the welfare of nationalities and adjustment policies in the PRC in the past few years”; Nguyen Huy Quy, “Domestic and external adjustment policies in China”; Nguyen Due Su, “Adjustments in Chinese external policies after the collapse of the Soviet Union”; The Tang, “Adjustments in the policy of opening of the PRC”; Tran Thi Minh, ”The new views in the training of talent in China”; Do Tien Sam, “Some important adjustments in the PRC policies toward overseas Chinese and Chinese outside the country”; Nguyen Ba Phai, “The readjustment of economic policy”; Phung Thi Hue, “Economic relations between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland – the adjustment process and prospects”; as well as essays on the region, ASEAN, U.S. international economic policy, Soviet economic policy toward the region, and on Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia and Mongolia.

43. Institute Of Chinese Studies (ed.), Nghien Cuu Trung Quoc: Mot So Van De Kinh Te-Van Hoa (Research on China: Some Economic and Cultural Issues) (Hanoi: National Political Press, 1994).Google Scholar Chapters include Nguyen Huy Quy, “Towards a Vietnamese sinology”; Tran Le Sang, “Understanding Chinese culture in the present era”; Phuong Luu, “The concept of ‘Dao’ in Chinese historical thought”; Hoang Giap, “The five sacred mountains – five points of light of Chinese culture”; Nguyen Minh Hang, “The problem of economic overheating in China”; Chu Cong Phung, “Understanding the population explosion [in China] and its social effects”; Vu Phuong, “China's policies for the training of minority nationality cadres”; Nguyen Van Hong, “Chinese research on South-East Asia – organization, training and research”; Nguyen Due Su, “Problems in the Chinese countryside today”; Thai Phuong, “Trying to understand Chinese rural construction during the planning era”; Hong Lien, “Science and technology in the process of agricultural modernization in the People's Republic of China”; Nguyen Phu Thai, “The responsibility system in agricultural production in China: some issues posed”; Do Tien Sam, “Rural enterprises and their effects on the development of Chinese agriculture”; Nguyen Kim Bao, “Sources of investment capital in Chinese agriculture”; Do Ngoc Toan, “Understanding the two-tiered business structure of Chinese agriculture”; Nguyen The Tang, “China's opening of trade in agricultural products with the ASEAN nations”; Tran Thi Minh, “China's implementation of educational reform in the countryside”; Hoai Nam, “Understanding village governance in the Chinese countryside today.”

44. See Nguyen Due Su, “Problems in the Chinese countryside today.” For many years the leader of the China studies group in the former Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies, Su is now a professor in the NCSSH Institute of Religion (Vien Nghien Cuu Ton Giao). Professor Su appears to be a key figure in the development of Chinese studies in Vietnam.

45. Work in the Institute of World Economics is led by Deputy Director Tran Le Sang. For an example of his work, see Tran Le Sang, “Development and readjustment in China,” in Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies (ed.), 5M Dieu Chinh Chinh Sach cua Cac Nuoc Khu Vuc Chau A va Thai Binh Duong Trong Thai Gian Gan Day, pp. 63–66. Other work in the Institute of World Economics includes Nguyen Phu Trai, “The process of reviving the state enterprise sector on China,” in Do Due Dinh (ed.), Khu Vuc Quoc Doanh o Cac Nuoc Dang Phat Trien Chau A (The State Enterprise Sector in the Developing Countries of Asia) (Hanoi: Social Sciences Publishing House, 1990).

46. An example of this work in book form and in English is Tran Khanh, The Ethnic Chinese and Economic Development in Vietnam (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1993).

47. See e.g. Tran Thi Minh, “China's implementation of educational reform in the countryside.”

48. See e.g. Hoang Giap, “The five sacred mountains.”

49. But an example of research is Nguyen Van Hong, “Chinese Research on South-East Asia.” Hong is identified as an Associate Professor at Hanoi University. The institutional home for work on China at Hanoi University is also sometimes referred to as the Asian and Pacific Research Center (Trung Tam Nghien Cuu Thai-A), or the Chinese language division of the Foreign Languages Department.

50. Nguyen Huy Quy, “Toward a Vietnamese sinology,” p. 9. National University is another term for Hanoi University, recognizing the current merger of several universities in the Hanoi area to form a larger comprehensive institution. Hanoi University has a significant tradition in Chinese language studies and research in Vietnam. The present director of the Chinese language division, Nguyen Van Dong, is engaged with American James Carlson in a translation of a Chinese volume on the origins of the Chinese language, with annotations on the relationship of Chinese to Vietnamese. Scholars at the University contributed to a primary Chinese–Vietnamese dictionary now in use in Vietnam. Le, Van Quan (chief ed.), Tu Dien Han Viet Hien Dai (Modern Chinese-Vietnamese Dictionary) (Hanoi: University and Vocational Educational Press, 1992).Google Scholar Kim Hong Giao, an editor of the 1992 dictionary, edited an earlier volume, Tu Dien Han Viet (Chinese–Vietnamese Dictionary) (Beijing, 1957).

51. Young people in Vietnam remain ambivalent about China studies, according to Nguyen Huy Quy of the Institute of Chinese Studies, preferring to work on (and have the possibility of travel to) the United States and Western Europe. A telling recognition of that ambivalence was an earlier decision by the Foreign Languages College to term its Chinese language department the “Chinese and English Department” (Khoa Trung Ann).

52. Professor Luu holds the titles giao su (professor) and tien si (doctor of science), both quite senior positions in the Vietnamese social science world. His writings include “The concept of ‘Dao’ in Chinese historical thought.”

53. Ho, Chi Minh City People's Committee Office For Social Sciences (ed. and trans.), Quart Diem Ly Luan Khoa Hoc Xa Hoi Trung Quoc 10 Nam Cai Cach va Mo Cua (Theoretical Viewpoints on the Social Sciences in China[:] Ten Years of Reform and Opening (Hanoi: Theoretical Information Press, 1991).Google Scholar

54. Following a January 1992 State Planning Committee visit to China led by Professor Dinh Hoai, Director of the Committee's General Planning Department, the Institute published a translation of a Chinese volume on the “spark programme.” Vu, Hai Quang, Nguyen, Gia Thang (trans.), Gioi Thieu Ket Qua Ke Hoach Dom Luu cua Trung Quoc (Introduction to the Results of the Chinese Spark Programme) (Hanoi: Institute of Economic Forecasting and Strategy, State Planning Committee, 1992).Google Scholar Other articles and internal reports have resulted from State Planning Committee visits to China.

55. Professor Luu Bich Ho and Vice-Rector Luong Xuan Quy of the National Economics University led a Vietnamese study team to China to explore economics training, research and curricular development in May 1994 with the assistance of the Ford Foundation.

56. Marr, David, Vietnam Strives to Catch Up (New York: The Asia Society, 1995).Google Scholar

57. Ibid.

58. Ibid. Another view, from Hanoi, somewhat de-emphasizes the differences between these schools of thought but stresses varying degrees of “optimism” or “pessimism” among Vietnamese officials and scholars for development of relations with China. In this analysis a larger group, including at least some Foreign Ministry officials and some scholars, is less optimistic than others that relations with China can be effectively improved over the long term. The group described as less optimistic is also characterized as concerned for what are seen as the rapid, sometimes unpredictable shifts in Chinese statements and actions towards Vietnam, and less confident of the predictability of Chinese policy.

59. Vietnamese translations of Chinese criticisms of “peaceful evolution” include Ban ve Van De Chong Dien Bien Hoa Binh (A Text on the Problem of Resisting Peaceful Evolution). Other such translations include General Department II, Ministry, Of Defence (trans.), Hay Canh Giac Cuoc Chien Tranh The Gioi Khong Co Khoi Sung (Be Vigilant for World Wars without Gunsmoke: Research on the Question of Opposing “Peaceful Evolution”) (Hanoi: National Political Publishing House, 1994).Google Scholar This volume was originally published in Chinese by the [Thien Tan] Social Sciences Publishing House in 1991. Another is General Department II. Ministry, Of Defence (trans.), Cuoc Do Sue Giua Hai Che Do Xa Hoi (The Struggle for Power between Two Social Systems) (Hanoi: National Political Publishing House, 1994).Google Scholar This volume was originally published in Chinese by the Hunan People's Publishing House in 1991.

60. Marr, Vietnam Strives to Catch Up.

61. The work of David Marr, Gareth Porter, Carl Thayer and others confirms and discusses the pace of political reform in Vietnam. At the same time, there is considerably more discussion under way in Vietnam now than in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

62. The Vietnamese term used here is pho tien si, the Vietnamese academic equivalent (and translation) of the Soviet Candidate Doctor qualification. That Vietnam has no, or very few, senior professors authorized to train graduate students to the tien si, or Doctor of Science, degree in Chinese studies is implicit in this critique, and a further indication of the limitations facing Vietnamese sinology.

63. Nguyen Huy Quy, “Towards a Vietnamese sinology,” pp. 7–8.

64. This striking pattern is replicated in each Vietnamese institution charged with policy or scholarly research on Vietnam, and is repeatedly raised by Vietnamese China specialists.

65. Nguyen Huy Quy, “Towards a Vietnamese sinology,” p. 9. Some Chinese articles, works of Mao, Deng and others, and some foreign articles have been translated into Vietnamese. Very few Western studies of China have been translated. One early exception is Edward Rice, Mao's Way (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974 revised edition), translated as Con Duong cua Mao and published as internally circulated reference materials by the Theoretical Information Press in the mid to late 1970s. A recent translation of key Chinese Party documents is Nguyen Huy Quy (trans.), Trach Dan [jiang Zemin], Giang, Bang [li Peng], Ly, Chu Nghia Xa Hoi Mang Man Sac Trung Quoc (Socialism with Chinese Characteristics) (Hanoi: Truth Publishing House, 1992).Google Scholar

66. As indicated above, Vietnamese specialists in Chinese studies from key institutions are expected to conduct research or study advanced Chinese in China in 1995 and 1996 with assistance from the Ford Foundation.

67. The national social science library based in the Institute for Social Science Information (Vien Thong Tin Khoa Hoc Xa Hoi) in Hanoi receives The China Quarterly and keeps recent issues on open access shelves (at summer 1994). The National Library receives The China Quarterly and Asian Survey and keeps recent issues on serials open access shelves. In both institutions earlier issues of journals are available to library users.

68. A review of some of the sources utilized in two volumes of essays published on China by the Institute of Chinese Studies and its predecessor group in 1992 and 1993 indicates the use of Renmin ribao, Guangming ribao, Jiefangjun bao, Hongqi and Qiushi, volumes of articles by Deng Xiaoping published by the Renmin chubanshe in Beijing, articles by Jiang Zemin published by the Qiushi chubanshe, publicly-issued Central Committee communiques and other documents, volumes on military affairs issued by the Zhongguo junshi kexue chubanshe, volumes published by the Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, Beijing jingji caizheng xueyuan chubanshe, Guangdong wenhua chubanshe, and the journals Shijie jingji, Shijie jingji wenti, Guoji maoyi, Guoji maoyi wenti, Guangdong duiwai maoyi jingji, Jihua yufazhan, Yazhou Taipingdongjingji, Guoji maoyi luntan, Nongcunjingji shehui, Zhongguo nongcun jingji, Fujian zazhi, and others. There are a few references to the Far Eastern Economic Review, The Economist, Far Eastern Affairs, Le Monde, Current History and some other foreign serials, but they are scattered and are not enough to indicate regular research coverage or availability. There are no references in either volume to The China Quarterly, The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, Asian Survey or other such foreign journals.