Contents -- Preface -- List of Figures, Maps and Tables -- List of Contributors -- Introduction: "The Fiery Frontier and the Dong World" -- James A. Anderson and John K. WhitmoreAnderson and Whitmore -- part 1 -- Shifting the Southern Frontier -- ∵ -- Where to Draw the Line? The Chinese Southern Frontier in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries -- Catherine Churchman -- Constructing Local Narratives: Spirits, Dreams, and Prophecies in the Medieval Red River Delta -- Liam C. Kelley -- Man and Mongols: the Dali and Đại Việt Kingdoms in the Face of the Northern Invasions -- James A. Anderson -- Yunnan's Muslim Heritage -- Michael C. Brose -- Gunsmoke: The Ming Invasion of Đại Việt and the Role of Firearms in Forging the Southern Frontier -- Kenneth M. Swope -- A State Agent at Odds with the State: Lin Xiyuan and the Ming Recovery of the Four Dong -- Kathlene Baldanza -- part 2 -- Shaping the Southern Frontier -- ∵ -- Imperial Ideal Compromised: Northern and Southern Courts Across the New Frontier in the Early Yuan Era -- Sun Laichen -- Northern Relations for Đại Việt: China Policy in the Age of Lê Thánh Tông (r. 1460-1497) -- John K. Whitmore -- Projecting Legitimacy in Ming Native Domains -- Joseph Dennis -- Royal Refuge and Heterodoxy: The Vietnamese Mạc Clan in Great Qing's Southern Frontier, 1677-1730 -- Alexander Ong -- The Rule of Ritual: Crimes and Justice in Qing-Vietnamese Relations During The Qianlong Period (1736-1796) -- Jaymin Kim -- Volatile Allies: Two Cases of Powerbrokers in the Nineteenth Century Vietnamese-Chinese Borderlands -- Bradley C. Davis -- Depicting Life in the Twentieth-Century Sino-Tibetan Borderlands: Local Histories and Modernities in the Career and Photography of Zhuang Xueben (1909-1984) -- Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa.

From Land to Water: Fixing Fluid Frontiers and the Politics of Lines in the South China / Eastern Sea -- Kenneth MacLean -- Asymmetric Structure and Culture in China's Relations with its Southern Neighbors -- Brantly Womack -- Glossary -- Index.