XU Hao, “The ElderlyPopulation and their Supporting Patterns in Medieval Europe”.
In medieval Europe,the elderly increasingly became an important group in the society and thus theproblem of supporting the elderly grew more and more severe, Usually medievalEuropean families undertook the supporting of the elderly, but the fact thatfamily structures and inheritance systems in western and southern Europe variedcaused correspondingly different supporting patterns. By the contrast, anindependent supporting pattern on the basis of nuclear family and propertyrights came into being in western Europe during the high and late Middle Ages.However, the recurrence appeared in southern Europe during the transitionalprocess. The kinship supporting pattern tied by non-nuclear family andpatriarchal power not only revived in the late Middle Ages but also extendedinto the early modern period.
WANG Hongbo, “SocialSecurity System and Social Stability of the German Empire”.
From 1880s and 1890s,the German Empire successively implemented sickness insurance, industrial and commercial accident insurance,disability and old–age pension insurance to protect the employed workers, thusestablished the first social insurance system adapted to the industrializedsociety in the world. The operation of the imperial social insurance systemeased the social contradictions to a certain extent, avoided the severe socialturbulence in the process of the rapid transformation from an agriculturalsociety to an industrialized society in just 30 years, maintained the stabilityof the empire, and generally achieved the expected goals of policy-making. Themain reasons for these achievements were economic environment and conditions,the level of social security set by policy makers, the executive power andauthority of the government, and the international environment.
YAN Zhaoxiang and SUPeipei, “Violent Clashes between Irish Immigrants and the British Mainstream inthe Mid-19th Century”.
After the Great Famineof the mid-19th century, a large number of Catholics in Irelandemigrated to British towns, where violent clashes were common with localresidents. The conflict was not only ethnic and religious differences, but alsosubject to the shortcomings of the management of British towns at that time,but the key is the unfair allocation of resources and class contradictionsunder the leadership of British capitalism in this period. The conflict exposedthe social problems of Britain, reinforced the National Consciousness of the Irishpeople, and promoted the development of the Irish independence movement andrelated reforms.
YU Zhenyang and LIXinkuan, “The Legalization of the British Commercial Debt Resolution Mechanismin Late Medieval Period”.
Credit was widely usedin British commercial activities in late medieval period, which expanded thevariety and scale of trade. Due to the influence of economic environment, moneysupply and other factors, those merchants who engaged in trade by means ofcredit may not be able to perform on time, which led to debt disputes betweencreditors and debtors. In order to solve these disputes effectively, in 1283the parliament passed the Statute of Acton Burnell, which initially establishedan official debt resolution mechanism. The mechanism mainly involved therelationships between creditors, debtors, guarantors and law-executors, andpromoted the legalization in the resolution of debt issues. In the actualimplementation process, this debt mechanism gradually showed shortcomings, for thisreason, the parliament had issued a series of statutes to supplement andgradually improved the commercial debt resolution machanism.
YAN Xinlong, “ TheApproval Power of Hubei Consultative Council on Local Affairs”.
Hubei ConsultativeCouncil is a product of the preparatory constitutional process at the end ofthe Qing Dynasty. As the prototype of the provincial council, the approvalpower of the Hubei Consultative Council on local affairs was actually operatingaccording to the Order of the Settings of Provincial Consultative Councils,Protocols on Provincial Consultative Councils and the Election of its Membersby the Committee for Drawing up Regulations for Constitutional Government, theAdvisory Council’s power void of deliberation, which showed that its powerattribute was extremely weak and had a strong color of right. In the jointgovernance of officials and squires, Hubei Consultative Council’s power toapprove the bills of local affairs involved academic affairs, agriculturaladministration, industry and other fields, which had achieved some positivesignificance and realistic effect, but there were inherent limitations. Of the27 bills in which the power to approve local affairs, 33 percent of them wascompletely rejected by the Governor-general of Hu-Guang; like many otherprovincial consultative councils, industrial proposals were basicallycontrolled by the local governors; there was a procedural irregularity in thepower to approve local affairs for accepting the bills submitted by the people,which led to the weakening of its rule of law; The lack of consultativedemocracy in the power to approve local affairs at the Hubei ConsultativeCouncils.
SUN Yu, “Japan’sPlundering of the Northeast China’s Textile Industry in the Pseudo-ManchuriaPeriod”.
Before theestablishment of the pseudo-Manchuria, the textile industry in Northeast Chinahad achieved a certain degree of development, and gradually entered the path ofmodernization. In the meantime, Japan had also stepped up its infiltration andplundering of the textile industry in Northeast China. After the establishmentof pseudo-Manchuria, Japan took full control of the textile industry inNortheast through the pseudo-regime. Japan’s plundering of the Northeasttextile industry was extremely harmful, leading to the shrinking of theNortheast Chinese textile industry, a large number of material loss, textileworkers were brutally oppressed and exploited. The textile industry inNortheast China entered a dark period.
ZHANG Lanxing,“Changes in Japan’s Foreign Trade Policy toward Netherland during the Period ofSakoku”.
During the period ofSakoku in Japan from 1640 to 1853, the Dutch were the only westernrepresentatives to remain in Nagasaki to carry out trade. During the period ofSakoku, Tokugawa gradually took control of the Dutch trade initiative, from thesystem of silk-permission tally to the trade semi-reduced order, and finallycompletely control of foreign trade. Japan-Dutch trade from a relatively free,laissez-faire state to a state of rule by the shogun, which showed the declineof Dutch power in Asia and the strengthening of Japan’s feudal autocracy.
LI Jing and ZHANGXiaohua, “ The Expansion of the Kingship in the British Witch-Hunting”.
The most importantfeature of the British witch-hunting was that it was dominated by the King andcarried on by means of law. The Wars of the Roses weakened the aristocracy andthe power of the king strengthened. The king of Henry Ⅷ , Elizabeth I and James Icracked down on folk witchcraft beliefs and heresy, mediated sectarianrelations, used witch hunting to expand his power, and made witchcraft a felonyin the form of decrees. They assigned Circuit Judges to take charge of thecountry’s heavy cases of witchcraft. They also employed Witch-finders andJustice of the Peace to conduct witchcraft investigations and trials during theadjournment of the Circuit Court. Through these activities, the king took thefinal adjudication power of felony such as witchcraft, controlled the localjudicial power and prevented occurrence of witch-hunting.
LIU Junhao, “ TheKalmar Union: The Cradle of the Transition of Nordic Kingdom to a ModernState”.
The establishment ofthe Kalmar Union originated from fighting against the expansion of theHanseatic League of Germany, and also from the struggle and compromise causedby the weakened monarchy and powerful aristocracy in the three kingdoms ofDenmark, Sweden and Norway. Although the Kalmar Union was still a kind ofmedieval union, it promoted the awakening of the consciousness of the Nordicpeoples, promoted the development of regional economy, strengthened themonarchical power, played the role in connecting the past and the future, andopened the process of the transition of the Nordic Kingdom to a modern state.
JIANG Qizhou, “WhyWestern Europe Takes the Lead on the Path of Market Economy: Review
on the Study ofBusiness and Industry in Western Europe in the Middle Ages”.
Charles V.Langlois,“The Comparative History of England and France during the Middle Ages”.
