Detian

Coordinates: 22°51′20″N 106°43′24″E / 22.85556°N 106.72333°E / 22.85556; 106.72333

View from China in dry season. Banyue fall is on the left. Detian is on the right

View of the falls from Vietnam during the rainy season when the flow is at its maximum

Detian - Ban Gioc Falls (Chinese: 德天瀑布 & 板約瀑布 - Vietnamese: Thác Bản Giốc & Thác Đức Thiên) are 2 waterfalls on the Quây Sơn River or Guichun River straddling the Sino-Vietnamese border, located in the Karst hills of Daxing County in the Chongzuo prefecture of Guangxi Province, on the Chinese side, and in the district of Trung Khanh, Cao Bằng province on the Vietnamese side, 272 km north of Hanoi.^{[Ref 1]}

The waterfall falls thirty meters. 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.^{[Ref 2]}

It is currently the 4th largest waterfall along a national border after Iguazu Falls, Victoria Falls, and Niagara Falls and was one of the crossing points for China’s army during the brief Sino-Vietnamese War. Nearby there is the Tongling Gorge accessible only through a cavern from an adjoining gorge. Rediscovered only recently, it has many species of endemic plants, found only in the gorge, and in the past was used as a hideout by local bandits, whose treasure is occasionally still found in the cliff-side caves.

A road running along the top of the falls leads to a stone tablet that marks out the border between China and Vietnam in French and Chinese. But there were unclear definitions in the legal documents on border demarcation and the placement of markers between the French and Qing administrations.^{[Ref 3]}

There are controversies regarding the border demarcation at this location specified in 1999 Viet Nam-China Treaty on Land Borderline. Some Vietnamese^[who?] claim 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. In China, local people^[who?] hold the historical view that the falls are all parts of their territory.

Notes

References

1. ^ "Vietnam Destinations: Ban Gioc (Cao Bang)". http://www.smile.com.vn/vietnam_destinations/vietnam_destinations_travel_tours_cao_bang_ban_gioc.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-12. 
2. ^ "Cao Bang - the land of mountains and water". http://english.vietnamnet.vn/travel/2006/03/547831/. Retrieved 2007-02-13. 
3. ^ Vietnamese Embassy: On the settlement of Vietnam-China border issue vietnamembassy-usa.org

External links

• Cao Bằng Provincial Government website (English version)
• Cao Bang
• Falls photo gallery