1. XU Xiuli, “Seventy Years of Modern Chinese History Study: 1949-2019”.
The period between the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution witnessed endless political movements and divergent academic orientations. However, Chinese scholars have established Marxism historiography in China very soon and made remarkable academic contributions. With the reform and opening-up policy steadily unfolding since 1977, modern Chinese historical study embarked on its golden age. Researchers not only have made a breakthrough on their perspectives, but also added more theories and methodologies in to their studies. Chinese historians are supposed to establish an independent and inclusive modern Chinese historiography, which would achieve greater achievements.
2.LIU Jinghua, “A Teaching for China: The Experience of Rural Urbanization in Europe”.
The experience of rural urbanization in Europe can bring some enlightenments for the urbanization of China in act. Firstly, China rural urbanization can learn from Europe and strive to achieve coordination and balance in three aspects, that is, in the time dimension, we must pay attention to the long-term nature and stages of urbanization process; in the ways, we must emphasize combined natural process with strong propulsion to push on urbanization; in the space dimension, we must pay attention to the rationality of urban system layout and the area balance of urban development. Secondly, we should study Europe to cultivate the new growth point of rural economy, including developing vigorously rural tourism and accurately grasping its developing direction, making full use of the unique resource advantages of rural areas to develop the old-age care industry for urban and rural residents; grasping the policy guidance, promotion of rural real estate timely, and so on. Thirdly, we should learn from Europe, strive to give full play to the initiative of all levels of government and various social forces, promote the diversification of management and intervention mechanisms, and encourage diversification of intervention methods and actions. As we do so, we will comprehensively raise the level of rural economic development and social progress.
3.XU Erbin, “The Landsknecht in the Late 15th Century and the 16th Century”.
The Landsknecht was created by Maximilian I, imitating the tactics and organization of the Swiss pike phalanx, in order to adapt to the changes in fighting methods of European warfare in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Besides serving for the Habsburg, the Landsknecht worked almost indiscriminately for all employers within and outside the Holy Roman Empire. The leaders of the Landsknecht came from noble families as well as wealthy commoners. They used their own or borrowed money to invest in the mercenary business they were engaged in, and the offspring of many of them became mercenary leaders too.
4.CHEN Kaipeng and CUI Caizhou, “On the Vicissitude of Archery in Medieval England”.
The archery was once the main weapon used in Medieval English army because of its advantages of long distance, speed fast and high lethality. The long bow played the great role and severely killed French army for several times in the Hundred Years’ War, so the English government has promoted archery vigorously. During the late Middle Ages, the archery has transformed into the recreational activities of the elites with the development of social economy, the application of new firearm and the change of noble values.
5.LIU Cheng, “A Commentary on Hanseatic Historical Research in Western Academia”.
From the construction of Lübeck in 1143, all kinds of documents accumulated lay the foundation for the research of Hanseatic history. In 19th century, the Hansischer Geschichtsverein efforts on textual research and collection for all kinds of resources designates professionalism and professionalization in study of Hanseatic History. Due to the effect of Rankean School and nationalist conception of history, the Political History had become main field of Hanseatic Research for the following century. A generation of scholars after WWII represented by Ahasver von Brandt had shaken the domination of Political History and given rise to revival of New Political History and New Economic History in 1950s. New historiography that characterized by comprehensive and interdisciplinary studies has sprung up in 1970s, and new points of penetration and new fields were found in Hanseatic social history, language history, legal history and regional history. Nowadays, there are two famous centralities of Hanseatic Research in western academia, Deutsche Hansischer Geschichtsverein and Hanze Study Centre of University of Groningen in Dutch. Two centralities corporate closely and promote Hanseatic Research’s penetration and nationalization.
6.Bas van Leeuwen and LI Jieli, “The Standard of Living in Ancient Societies: A Comparison between the Han Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire and Babylonia”.
In recent years, interest in the welfare levels of ancient economies has increased considerably, partly in a quest to find the origins of present-day income differences. A popular method for calculating income differences is the use of subsistence ratios that indicate whether the wage of an unskilled male laborer is sufficient to purchase enough products and services to maintain his family. In this paper, we present new estimates for the southeastern part of Han China and modify existing estimates for the eastern half of the Roman Empire (Egypt and Syria) and Babylonia to make them comparable. We find that the agricultural regions of Egypt and Babylonia experienced substantially lower subsistence ratios than Syria and southeastern Han China. We find that the main reason for the difference was that unskilled male workers belonged to the higher income brackets in southeastern Han China and Syria. This finding can be explained by the small group of free wage workers in these societies, combined with excess demand for this type of labor in the Eastern Roman Empire and southeastern Han China.
7.DU Jiaji, “Origin of the Iron-hat Prince and related Issues in Qing Dynasty”.
In traditional historical accounts, the titular rank of Iron-hat Prince was created as an award to high standard military service. Long accepted as the case, it is though dubious, for in the early Qing dynasty qualification for a title conferring of prince was more based on lineage than military endeavors, in fact with former as always a prior consideration, especially before the time that Qing subjugated the proper China. Holding of the highest titular rank of Prince were exclusively in those deriving from royal family, despite most of them with mediocre military performance. For those outside royal pedigree, a chance as such was rather limited if otherwise in a rare case of a contribution of particular significance. Such exclusivity in the privilege conferring was common in all these early modern dynasties, and equally common was the hereditary nature of these titular ranks before this pictorial description came in use in Qing dynasty. However, the origin of the saying of Iron-hat, derived not from its hereditary nature common in all titular rank conferrings, but from the contrast between those who were entitled to pass down their ranks without being degraded, as a particular acknowledgment to a privilege due to their military devotion, and those whose progeny could only inherit a title degraded by each generation because their ancestors earned the titles simply as royal kindreds.
8.DING Li, “Analysis on the Working and Living Condition of Railway Workers in North China: 1912-1937”.
The construction of railway in China first started in North China region, which has formed a dense railway network. During the period of the Republic of China, the North China railway workers have grown up gradually. This paper attempts to research on the working and living condition of the North China railway workers, which include the working hours, working environment, wage income, living expenses allocation and the basic necessities of life.
9.WEN Haolei and ZHAO Zhiqi, “An Analysis of the King’s Ships in Medieval England”.
The origins of the British Navy can be traced back to the King’s Ships in Medieval England. During the Hundred Years’ War, the King’s Ships developed and expanded with the support of the Kings, contributing to the protection of the Strait and the coastal defense. During the period of Henry V, the development of the King’s Ships has reached its peak. As the private trend of the King’s Ships emerged in the period of Henry VI, political and diplomatic chaos has shown up within the kingdom. Meanwhile, the public’s appeal to coastal defense also made the naval cause under the authority of the central government more in line with the trend of historical development.
