In a war that lasted barely a month, 250,000 Chinese front-line soldiers were thrashed by 100,000 Vietnamese border-militia troops. The Chinese lost more soldiers (perhaps 20,000) in those four weeks than the US lost in any single year of the Vietnam War.
邓小平在1979年入侵越南的决定原本也是想“教训”后者一下。谁知战争的最终结果却似乎狠狠地教训了邓小平。在短短一个月的战争里，25万中国正规军被10万越南边防民兵打得落花流水。在那四个星期里，中国军队的阵亡数量（可能有2万人）要比越战中美军任何一年的战亡人数都要多。