Friendship Pass
{{Short description|Mountain pass near the China-Vietnam border}}
{{Coord|21|58|35|N|106|42|44|E |display=title |format=dms}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| t = 友誼關
| s = 友谊关
| p = Yǒuyì Guān
| y = Yáuh Yìh Gwāan
| j = Jau5 Ji4 Gwaan1
| vie =
| pic = The main gate of Friendship Pass in China.jpg
| piccap =
| qn = Hữu Nghị Quan
Nam Quan
| chuhan = 友誼關
南關
}}
File:Youyi Pass in 1949.jpg troops entered Friendship Pass on 11 December 1949.]]
File:Dong-Dang-Vietnam-China -border-150dpi.jpg and his entourage passing through the since-removed outer gatehouse on 16 July 1900.]]
Friendship Pass ({{CJKV|t=友誼關|s=友谊关|v=Hữu Nghị Quan}}), also commonly known by its older name Ải Nam Quan ({{CJKV|t=隘南關|s=隘南关}}), is a pass near the China-Vietnam border, between China's Guangxi and Vietnam's Lạng Sơn province. The pass itself lies just inside the Chinese side of the border.{{cite web |url=http://www.ngo-realm.org/GuomThien/HanNamQuan3.htm |title=Han Nam Quan 3(English) |accessdate=6 October 2014 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140831232736/http://www.ngo-realm.org/GuomThien/HanNamQuan3.htm |archivedate=31 August 2014 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-30-me-wired30-story.html|title=In Westminster, an Internet Bid to Restore Viet Land|work=Los Angeles Times|date=30 June 2002 |access-date=27 June 2015}}
Vietnamese National Route 1 starts at the border near this pass, which lies less than 5 km north of the town of Đồng Đăng in Lạng Sơn province, ending in Năm Căn in Cà Mau province. China National Highway 322 runs from here to Guangxi province and Hunan province. This is one of the busiest border trading points of Vietnam.
It was built in the early Ming dynasty with the name of "South Suppressing Pass" ({{CJKV|t=鎮南關|s=镇南关|v=Trấn Nam Quan}}). In 1953, its name was changed to "South Harmonious Pass" ({{CJKV|t=睦南關|s=睦南关|v=Mục Nam Quan}}). In 1965, its name was changed again to the current Friendship Pass, reflecting the close political, military, and economic ties between the People's Republic of China and North Vietnam during the then-ongoing Vietnam War.
History
Traditionally, the pass served as the exact border between China and Vietnam, hence there is also a Vietnamese historical saying: "Nước Việt Nam ta trải dài từ Ải Nam Quan đến mũi Cà Mau,"{{cite web|url=http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t67407.html|title=Asia Finest Discussion Forum > Ai Nam Quan – An example of communist sellout of Motherland|publisher=|accessdate=27 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222200326/http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t67407.html|archive-date=22 February 2014|url-status=dead}}{{unreliable source?|date=August 2021}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lichsuvn.info/forum/archive/index.php/t-3322.html|title=Ải Nam Quan – nay còn đâu !! [Lưu Trữ] – Diễn đàn Lịch sử Việt Nam|publisher=|accessdate=27 June 2015|archive-date=24 April 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424070913/http://lichsuvn.info/forum/archive/index.php/t-3322.html|url-status=dead}}{{unreliable source?|date=August 2021}} translated as "The Vietnamese nation stretches from Ải Nam Quan to Cape Cà Mau". However, since the Franco-Qing Convention of 1887, the border has been determined to be south of the Pass itself, putting it entirely within Chinese territory,{{cite web|url=http://hasiphu.com/nhomdalat_MTL21.html|title=Ải Nam Quan trong hiện tại phần 2|publisher=|accessdate=27 June 2015}} in Pingxiang, Chongzuo County, Guangxi Autonomous Region,{{cite web|url=http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Youyiguan+Pass+Scenic+Spot&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl|title=Google Maps|accessdate=27 June 2015}} and the official border between the two nations is beyond this pass. A border stone No. 18 was erected and represented on an 1894 map to be "along the road from Đồng Đăng to Nam Quan", but has since been lost.{{Cite web |last=VnExpress |title=Ải Nam Quan và thác Bản Giốc được phân chia thế nào |url=https://vnexpress.net/ai-nam-quan-va-thac-ban-gioc-duoc-phan-chia-the-nao-3134512.html |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=vnexpress.net |language=vi}} When China and Vietnam negotiated for a new border, both recognized the 1887 border to be a legal reference point through an agreement signed in 1993,{{Cite web |title=Thoả thuận về những nguyên tắc cơ bản giải quyết vấn đề biên giới lãnh thổ giữa Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam và Cộng hòa nhân dân Trung Hoa |url=http://biengioilanhtho.gov.vn/vi/tin-tuc/thoa-thuan-ve-nhung-nguyen-tac-co-ban-giai-quyet-van-de-bien-gioi-lanh-tho-giua-cong-hoa-xa-hoi-chu-nghia-viet-nam-va-cong-hoa-nhan-dan-trung-hoa-80791.html |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=biengioilanhtho.gov.vn}} and both chose to draw the border south of, although at different distances away from, the Pass, later agreeing on a compromise. The new border was confirmed by Chinese and Vietnamese officials by a border treaty enacted in June 2000, causing controversy among some Vietnamese as well as members of Vietnamese diaspora, who deemed it a "concession" to China.{{Cite web |url=http://www.congdongnguoiviet.fr/TaiLieu2/1111HinhAnhLSVCBanNUocH.htm |access-date=8 April 2012 |title=Nom de domaine www.congdongnguoiviet.fr }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Friendship Pass}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-ULxy3cCFU#t=127s Video of a tour of Ải Nam Quan, now under Chinese control]
- [http://maivantran.com/tag/%E1%BA%A3i-nam-quan-2011/ Photos of Ải Nam Quan, from the French colonial era to present]
- [http://ongvove.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/o-nhuc-%E1%BA%A3i-nam-quan/ Photos of Ải Nam Quan, from the French colonial era to present]
{{Mountain_passes_of_China}}
Category:China–Vietnam border crossings
Category:Mountain passes of China
Category:Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Guangxi