Bản Giốc – Detian Falls or Bản Giốc Falls is a collective name for two waterfalls on the
Quây Sơn River (
Vietnamese: Sông Quây Sơn,
chữ Nôm
Chữ Nôm (, ; ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters ('' Chữ Hán'') to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represent ...
: 滝𡇸山;
Chinese: 归春河,
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
: Guīchūn hé) that straddle the international border between
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
and
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...
; more specifically located between the Karst hills of
Daxin County,
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ...
and
Trùng Khánh District,
Cao Bằng Province Cao or CAO may refer to:
Mythology
*Cao (bull), a legendary bull in Meitei mythology
Companies or organizations
*Air China Cargo, ICAO airline designator CAO
*CA Oradea, Romanian football club
*CA Osasuna, Spanish football club
* Canadian Assoc ...
. The waterfalls are located north of
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...
.
Characteristics
Over thousands of years, the waterfall has eroded its crest and slowly moved upstream. It currently appears to be two waterfalls most of the time, but when the river is swollen due to summer rains can form one fall again.
In Vietnamese, the two falls are considered as two parts of one waterfall with the sole name Bản Giốc. The two parts are thác chính (Main waterfall) and thác phụ (Subordinate waterfall). Chinese texts sometimes name both of the water falls as Détiān Falls (
Chinese: 德天瀑布) on the Chinese side.
The waterfall drops . It is separated into three falls by rocks and trees, and the thundering effect of the water hitting the cliffs can be heard from afar.
It is currently the 4th largest waterfall along a national border, after
Iguazu Falls
Iguazú Falls or Iguaçu Falls ( gn, Chororõ Yguasu , es, Cataratas del Iguazú, links=no ; pt, Cataratas do Iguaçu ) are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná ...
,
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls ( Lozi: ''Mosi-oa-Tunya'', "The Smoke That Thunders"; Tonga: ''Shungu Namutitima'', "Boiling Water") is a waterfall on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, which provides habitat for several unique species of plants and anim ...
, and
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the U.S. state, state ...
.
Somewhat nearby is the long by wide Tongling Gorge (Tōnglíng dàxiágǔ 通灵大峽谷 "Tongling Grand Canyon") in
Baise
Baise (; local pronunciation: ), or Bose, is the westernmost prefecture-level city of Guangxi, China bordering Vietnam as well as the provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan. The city has a population of 4.3 million, of which 1.4 million live in the ...
City (百色市),
Guangxi province
Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( ...
, accessible only through a cavern from an adjoining gorge. Rediscovered only recently, it has many species of
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
plants, found only in the gorge.
Geology
The waterfalls are located in an area of mature
karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathe ...
formations where the original
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of be ...
layers are being eroded. Numerous streams spring from underground fissures along the lower levels of the area. The waterfalls have multiple drops, from bedrock layer to layer, which shows the multiple depositions of sediments of different hardness which formed the terrain over millions of years.
History
A road running along the top of the falls leads to a stone marker that demarcates the border between China and Vietnam in French and Chinese. Modern disputes arose as there are discrepancies as to the correlating legal documents on border demarcation and the placement of markers between the French and
Qing
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
administrations in the 19th century.
[Vietnamese Embassy: On the settlement of Vietnam-China border issu]
vietnamembassy-usa.org
/ref>
Disputes regarding the border demarcation at this location were settled in ''1999 Viet Nam-China Treaty on Land Borderline''. Additional talks were held as late as 2009 to clarify the treaty. However, there are controversies regarding the border demarcation around the Falls. One faction holds that the entirety of these falls belongs to Vietnam, and that the stone tablet had been moved there some time during or after the brief Sino-Vietnamese war of 1979. To the southeast, the land dispute also along the Sino-Vietnamese border also includes Nam Quan Gate ( Ải Nam Quan) which the Vietnamese claimed as well. Historically, Nam Quan Gate served as the border marker and entry point to Vietnam between Vietnam & China (hence there's also a Vietnamese historical saying, that Vietnam stretched from Cape Cà Mau
Cape Cà Mau (''Mũi Cà Mau'') on Cà Mau Peninsula in Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeas ...
to Ải Nam Quan).
Impact on industry and commerce
The waterfalls increase the quality of life for people who live within the sound of the falls.
A road running along the top of the falls leads to a stone marker that demarcates the border between China and Vietnam in French and Chinese. 20th century disputes could not be resolved where inaccuracies in documents, maps and descriptions that were made in the 19th century became difficult to differentiate. The disappearance or inaccurate replacement of markers and landmarks from time to time, and the varied patterns of transportation, settlement and land use from generation to generation, and the successive administrative differences throughout periods of war and strife led to both Vietnam and China understanding that exactly defining the border would increase prosperity in the long term.
The commercial focus of the area directly around the falls will likely remain tourism.
Transport
There are two directional aspects to transport at a waterfall: (1) portage along the river's course; and (2) fording or rafting across the river.
Bản Giốc–Detian Falls was one of the crossing points for Chinese forces during the Sino-Vietnamese War
The Sino-Vietnamese War (also known by other names) was a border war fought between China and Vietnam in early 1979. China launched an offensive in response to Vietnam's actions against the Khmer Rouge in 1978, which ended the rule of the C ...
. Rafts are currently used to boat tourists closer to the falls and return them to their dock of origination.
Preservation efforts
Preservation of the resource may require future cooperation between the local communities by use of a perpetual joint oversight committee.
References
External links
Cao Bằng Provincial Government website
(English version)
Falls photo gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ban Gioc - Detian Falls
Landforms of Cao Bằng province
Landforms of Guangxi
Waterfalls of Vietnam
Waterfalls of China
International waterfalls
Tourist attractions in Guangxi
Daxin County
Cascade waterfalls
Tourist attractions in Cao Bằng province