This Epilogue documents the colonial coal regime’s struggle for survival during the twilight of French colonialism in Indochina. It also examines the closure and decolonization of large-scale coal mining enterprises and discusses the legacy of coal mining in postcolonial Vietnam.

Drawing from the economic, political, and security records of the Kế Bào Coal Company – one of the first two large-scale French coal mining companies established in Tonkin – this chapter tracks the rise and fall of the company and offers a labor, social, and racial history of the many pioneers of the coal frontier, such as the Chinese and Vietnamese migrant coal mine workers, the Vietnamese convicts, and the French personnel. By situating the history of large-scale coal mining in Kế Bào within the regional context of the Sino-Vietnamese borderland and the global coolie trade of the nineteenth century, this chapter illustrates the risks and precarities of coal mining along a remote maritime coal frontier in the early days of French colonialism in Tonkin. Specifically, it highlights the perils of financial miscalculation, labor mismanagement, overoptimistic and incomplete geological surveys, and the environmental and ecological challenges of extracting coal in a tropical landscape unfamiliar to Europeans, all of which contributed to the company’s downfall.

This chapter provides a geographical, ethnic, and economic overview of the coal mining frontier of Quảng Yên in northern Vietnam during the precolonial period, before large-scale coal mining began in the late nineteenth century. The first part of this chapter highlights the ethnic diversity, political volatility, rampant piracy, cross-border smuggling, and illicit trade that characterized this porous Sino-Vietnamese borderland, where state surveillance was often absent. The chapter also examines precolonial mining patterns, the Nguyễn dynasty’s mining policies, and the role of the Chinese in precolonial mining exploitation in Vietnam. Notably, the chapter attributes the decline of the precolonial mining economy in Vietnam to several environmental, political, and technological factors. The last part of this chapter documents the French struggle to stabilize and pacify this complex and volatile mining frontier in the late nineteenth century, paving the way for the region’s first large-scale coal mining enterprises and mining settlements.

This chapter explores the transformations caused by the 1920s coal boom in Tonkin, especially with respect to forests and the ways in which they were exploited. Demand for mine timber soared during this period, since coal mining enterprises required a large number of mine props to support their underground tunnels. With hard timber becoming a highly sought-after commodity, illicit timber exploitation and trading networks began operating under the radar of French colonial surveillance. Taking advantage of this mining-driven high demand for timber, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Dao loggers and traders exploited and sold hard timber to large-scale coal mining companies, often without permission. Forest rules were flouted in a frenzied search for mine timber. This chapter underscores how capitalist developments, such as coal mining, were the main perpetrators of the destruction of timber forests in Tonkin, as opposed to indigenous swidden farming practices. This story of coal mining and deforestation also demonstrates the adaptability of indigenous networks, the internal weakness of colonial rule, and the ecological consequences of unchecked capitalist developments.

This chapter examines the formation of a liberal mining regime in Tonkin, which fueled a mining frenzy in the 1920s. To encourage prospectors and capitalists to invest in and exploit the mining resources of remote colonies, such as Tonkin and Annam, a colonial mining regime that granted mine explorers extensive rights to control and develop mining concessions as they saw fit was formulated in 1897. This chapter also explores how the liberal mining regime in Tonkin enabled the rise of big coal companies, such as the French Coal Company of Tonkin (SFCT) and Đông Triều Coal Company (SCDT). Their rapid growth and illicit mining expansion subsequently led to increasing conflicts among the two companies, the colonial government, and local communities over the use of natural resources, such as timber forests, public land, and maritime zones. Overall, this chapter highlights how the bubble created by mining deregulation led to the wasteful use and arbitrary division of land, rampant prospecting fraud, widespread destruction of preexisting forests at mining perimeters, and the illegal tactics employed by the big coal companies to encroach upon public resources.

Drawing from the memoirs of Edmond Fuchs and Emile Sarran – two French geologists sent by the French government to Tonkin in the 1880s to conduct mining expeditions – this chapter reconstructs their geological mission and examines their ecological and geological findings about the Quảng Yên coal basin in Tonkin. The chapter also underscores several limitations and inconsistencies in the French geological findings, including Fuchs’ overoptimistic assessment of the industrial and military applications of Tonkinese coal, Sarran’s inflated estimates of Tonkin’s coal reserves, and their omission of the impact of environmental factors on future large-scale coal mining activities in Tonkin. It argues that these scientific limits resulted from logistical and topographical challenges encountered by the geologists in Tonkin. It further posits that the immense pressure imposed by both the French government and the French Ministry of the Navy and Colonies was likely a contributing factor, since it was necessary for the geologists’ missions to demonstrate how the discovery of Tonkinese coal could help strengthen French industrial might and imperial ambitions in Asia.

Chapter 6 provides a detailed empirical case study on the feasibility of mediation in grassroots societies of China. This chapter employs qualitative methods, including participant observation and thick description, to illustrate the entire process of court mediation in a rural village in Yunnan Province. It highlights the unique micro skills and techniques used by grassroots judges to facilitate dispute resolution, emphasising the importance of mediation in preserving face and repairing interpersonal relationships. The chapter argues that mediation is particularly suitable for the rural context due to the social, cultural and economic characteristics of the region. It also discusses the challenges faced by grassroots judges, including their educational background and the mismatch between formal legal training and local needs. The findings suggest that mediation is a more effective and humane approach to dispute resolution in underdeveloped areas, offering a practical alternative to litigation.