Asian Perspective 37 (2013),1-30 Contested Border: A Historical Investigation into the Sino-Korean Border Issue,1950-1964 Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia The contested Sino-Korean border issue has received very little study.Making use of presently available sources in the several dif- ferent archives in China and Taiwan,as well as documents made public in South Korea,we examine in this article the historical back- ground of the Sino-Korean border issue and border relations from 1950 to 1964.North Korea was dissatisfied with the Jiandao Treaty of 1909,but was uneasy about raising that dissatisfaction with the Chinese in the 1950s.When China was caught in a number of woe- ful domestic and international predicaments in 1962,Pyongyang seized the opportunity and proposed to Beijing that the border issue be settled.It took the two sides only six months to negotiate and sign a new boundary treaty.As a result,North Korea emerged with a larger share of Tianchi and other disputed areas.KEywoRDs: China,North Korea,Sino-Korean border. THE SINO-KOREAN BORDER ISSUE HAS BEEN A SENSITIVE ONE FOR CHINA and the two Koreas.Although the three governments have been reticent on the issue on official occasions,and the Chinese gov- emment has even forbidden scholars to study it,people have hotly debated this topic for years.For an idea of the intensity of the debate,read the results of an online search of Chinese words such as ZhongChao bianjie (Sino-North Korean border),Baitoushan (Paektusan),and Gaogouli(Koguryo).But was the Sino-Korean border dispute resolved in history? Chinese scholars have extensively studied the contested Sino- Korean border,but they mainly cover the Ming and Qing dynasty periods (1368-1911).Very little study on joint Sino-Korean efforts to resolve the border dispute occurred either during the era of the Republic of China (1911-1949)or under the People's Republic of China(PRC).Two factors contribute to the situation: