The Opened ‘Bamboo Curtain’ and the Closing Reform-Era Border: The Changes of China's Border Management

Author : Ahn Chi-Young

Page : 183-216

Abstract

 This paper aims to explore the changes in border management in China and the reasons behind them. Prior to the reform and open door policy, China was a closed country, known as the "Bamboo Curtain". China was a forbidden land for many foreigners, but the situation on China's margins, comprising mainly "cross-border" ethnic minority regions, was different from macro international relations and our perceptions. China's borders had no barriers to cross, and ethnic minorities moved freely across borders.

 After China's opening and the international movement of foreigners and Chinese people became freer, the management and control of the border was actually tightened. Since the mid-1990s, border areas have been equipped with barbed wire fences to prevent movement, and some areas have been militarized. China's borders have become increasingly controlled during the reform period. Since the reform, China's borders have become a space for international movement, exchange, and trade. At the same time, border areas have also become places where smuggling, illegal crossings, and international problems such as North Korean defectors.

<Key Word>​

China, Border Management, Cross Border Ethnic Minorities, Barbed Wire, North Korean Defectors