國界不只是兩個主權國家的分界線，還交織各種政治、文化、經濟等複雜內涵，國界的意義和周邊地理位置的劃定會隨著時空不斷轉移。國界在主權的作用下，對於周邊地帶的發展以及毗鄰國家的互動，兼具有「阻礙」與「促進」的效果。學者向來關注不同邊境地區的特徵，並探討國界對當地發展的影響。 研究中國和越南國界意涵的轉變，並分析兩國邊境的貿易狀況與邊境地區的發展結果，將有助於邊界效應理論的擴展。中國和越南邊境地區的歷史淵源、經濟水準和制度環境均具有獨特性，不同於目前學界主流的美加、美墨、歐盟等地的邊界研究個案。兩國交界地區的互動頻率在亞洲國家之中也是最高的，這些背景讓學者將中越邊境視作研究邊境領域的「最佳個案」。然而，目前學者對於不同國界與邊境的特質為何、國界對邊境地區發展所造成的阻礙與促進效果為何，皆尚未產生共識，因此本文深入中越邊境的特殊背景探查實際情況。 本論文延伸邊界效應理論的應用，先從理論中歸納出國界阻礙或促進邊境地區發展的三項因素：國界的地理與政治隔絕、國界兩側的人文差異、區域整合對國界的衝擊。接著從環境背景、歷史沿革、當代設置等不同角度，檢視這三項因素在中越邊境所呈現的狀況。然後，使用中國和越南的歷史文獻、官方統計數據、西方調查研究報告、田野調查資料等，評估中越邊境邊貿的互動情況與長期經濟發展的趨勢。根據邊境地區的實際狀況，論證國界對於中越邊境的發展所造成的實質正面或負面效果。最後，納入中國和俄羅斯的例子作為比較個案，以建立適度的普遍化解釋。 / This research examines the “border effect” through analyzing the evidence from the China-Vietnam border area. China and Vietnam share a border with strong ties and similarities in culture and ethnicity inasmuch as historically the northern and central parts of Vietnam were ruled by the Chinese ancient empires for over 1,000 years. The close ties are further strengthened by the recent regional economic integration between the two countries. With regard to its particular historical background, the China-Vietnam border is essentially different from other border area However, existing research of border effect focuses mostly on cases such as the borders between Canada and United States, Mexico and United States or within the European Union but fails to incorporate the China-Vietnam border—a critical case in studying the border effect in Asian context. How do we understand the development of border areas in terms of the specificities in the China-Vietnam border? In this research, I test and reexamine the border effect theory using the China-Vietnam border trade case in three dimensions— (1) geographical and political isolation, (2) racial and cultural difference, and (3) regional integration. Focusing on the three dimensions, I firstly discuss the effects of border on either enhancement or hindrance of border regions’ development. I then conduct an empirical analysis on the China-Vietnam border trade, by which I will rethink the complexity of borders and border effects conceptually as well as theoretically. The empirical evidence shows strong effects of the border on the development of the China-Vietnam border area. At last, in order to generalize my argument, I compare the China-Vietnam border trade with the Sino-Russian case. The comparison helps assess the impact of the border transitions model on China border zone.