1.MA Keyao, “Retrospect and Prospect of the Discipline of World History in China”.
Ancient Chinese owned quite limited understanding about the outside world, and the close-door policy was carried out by the rulers of Ming and Qing Dynasty. It was in the early modern period that the Chinese had begun to observe the world in their own initiative, while sending students to learn social sciences abroad was even later. During the ROC period, there was no academic discipline of world history, but only general education of world history knowledge. After 1949, the discipline of world history was set up in China, which was great influenced by the Soviet Union. The discipline of world history has made great progress since the policy of reform and opening-up. However, there's still much to do. One way to improve the discipline is to learn from the Europe and America firstly, then to construct the disciplinary system of world history from the Chinese points of view.
2.ZHU Huan, “On the Origins of the World History”.
The theory of the world history is one of the most important parts of Marxist theory. The theory of three social formations which Marx mentioned in Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy is the starting point for Chinese scholars to study world history. In the opinion of Marx, the world history does not always exist. However, the second social formation provides essential condition for the origin of it. The world history should be the history of the complete liberation of human kind after proletarian revolution in a real sense.
3.XU Hao, “What is World History?—— On the Discipline Construction of World History between the West and China”.
The westerners set about world history till the 20th century. After the World War II, historians in the West paid much attention to world history with their narrow-minded nationalist history abandoning. 1960s witnessed the birth of global history. There are similarities and differences between global history and world history, the former promoted the study of macro-world history. World history was made a discipline in 1980s, and was set up as a series of courses in universities and high middle schools. The publication of the General History of the World by ZHOU Yiliang and WU Yujin in 1962 indicated the birth of world history system in China. World history in China is now confronted with many problems, such as obscure concepts, absence of transverse and longitudinal studies, unbalanced research teams. Meanwhile, the curriculum setting and talent cultivation also need to improve.
4.Sir John Baker, “The Rule of Law in English Legal History”.
The four cornerstones of the English legal system are the rule of law, the constitutional monarchy, the sovereignty of Parliament, and the recognition of fundamental personal liberties or rights. The liberties were rooted in the ancient common law, but were also attributed to the Great Charter of Liberties (1215). It was Henry III's version of Magna Carta 1225 (as confirmed by Parliament) which in later ages was accepted as the first English statute in the `statute book'. By confirming the charter in their turn, successive kings acknowledged that the monarchy of England was a `limited' or `constitutional' monarchy in which the king ruled in accordance with law. The most important of the liberties granted by Magna Carta were those contained in chapter 29, though it took several centuries before ways were found of enforcing its provisions. The Inns of Court also provided the foundations for the tradition of the rule of law. Since the rule of law is incapable of precise definition, the question how far it prevailed in a particular age must be a matter of degree and opinion. But it is now clear that some of the most significant steps towards the establishment of remedies for the citizen were taken during the sixteenth century. This was largely a result of legal ingenuity. The triumph of Magna Carta did not result from the words themselves, but from the meanings deduced from its grand purpose.
5.CHENG Handa, “On the Elements of the Rule of Law in Medieval Europe”.
The rule of law means governing by law, the order of economy, society, politics and culture being established by law and operating in accordance with law. In the Europe history, such a principle was embodied in the pluralistic integration process of constitutionalism. Constitutionalism originated in ancient Greece and Rome, and finally established in modern Europe and America. In the middle ages, as a national structure, the constitutionalism civilization was obscure; but as a historical process, the constitutionalism was going on without interruption. In addition to the classical constitutional legacy preserved in a certain range, a large number of new institutional and conceptual constitutionalism elements were conceived and developed in the European Feudal System, Christianity, autonomous cities and the ideological field. Therefore, the middle age was not a break of the European constitutionalism history, but a pluralistic development period of the constitutionalism civilization in special time-space condition, which play as a transitional period connecting the ancient and the modern constitutionalism.
6.YANG Songtao, “The Phenomena of ‘Compounding’ in the Disputes Resolution of Village in Early Modern England”.
The rural disputes in early modern England had always been compounded according to the local customs. To begin with, the due party had hardly taken legal approach. For the sake of fellowship and neighborhood, they often excused misfeasors or allowed many informal actions to be taken, such as private punishments, mediation and exclusion. Only those who had been identified as degenerate persons were prosecuted in a court. The pattern of disputes resolution which was shaped by the popular mentalities in the rural society and “state-society” structure in early modern England not only led the “compounding” to be reserved, but also was consistent with the whole process of rule of law in England.
7.CHEN Xiaolü, “Social Security in Europe: Past and Present”.
It's a long way for the social security system in Europe, which is the product of European social progress and development, to take shape. Every country in Europe goes in different way, but the general trace exists: while the social development goes on, every social class shares properly the dividend of the development and all social reforms carry out on the basis of law. The social welfare system in modern Europe is quite good. However, the problem of overmuch-welfare is quite common, that is, social welfare goes beyond the capacity of the social production. The future of the social security in Europe lies in how to resolve the issues mentioned above.
8.WANG Jiafeng, “Innovations and Developments of Trading Methods in the High and Late Medieval Western Europe”.
The trading methods in the High and Late Medieval Western Europe had something to do with those used by ancient Greeks and Romans, and contemporary Arabians, Byzantines and Jews, but the Western European merchants synthesized and developed the existing trade modes, combined them with their own innovations, to make their trade mode appearing systematically in new appearances, no other contemporary peoples could do it. This new system of trade greatly affected the later development of Western Europe, and constructed the base of its modern expansion. But its formation cannot be simply attributed to economic cause, for to a great extent it is a product of the historical and cultural tradition of Europe, especially the development of European commercial laws, which is unique in the contemporary world.
9.WANG Yaping, “On the Social Basis for the Formation of Benefice System in the Early Medieval Western Europe”.
In the early Middle Ages, the patron system of the late Roman Empire and Mark system of the German Mark, these two social factors were fused together because they contained a similar principle of‘protection", namely, the Roman coloni were protected by the patronage and the Mark members were protected by the Mark. Thus, the concept of protection was the conjunction point. The Franks had replaced the private possession of the land with the unity holding, which continued land tenure contained in the Roman estate with the new formation of Hufen. Therefore, the protection principle of the Mark strengthened the personal bondage of Roman coloni and the Mark members who held land. The Hufen institution contained the rights of usage of the common land which not only emphasized the protective function of the community, but also stipulated the obligations of the members of the community who held land. The rights of usage decided the structure of the manorial system which held the relations of dependence in the beneficiary society, in such a way, three characteristics, namely, the unique personal bondage of Feudalism in Western Europe, the polity of the personal alliance in principle of protections and obligations, the rights derived from the land, were carved out.
10.LIU Jun, “A Comparative Study on the Union Density in Canada and the USA”.
Canada and the USA are high degree of economic integration, and the Canadian unions have developed under the American unions' support and governance. However, the trends of the union density in the two countries are obviously different since 1960s. The article makes a thorough inquiry by comparatively discussion of the public sector unions, political culture, union's values and the labor laws which influence the union density, while highlighting the characteristics of the two countries.
11.QI Shirong, “In Memory of YuYing High School—The First School where I Taught”.
