Institute of European Civilization was founded in June 2010 at Tianjin Normal University. It was known as the Research Center of European Economic and Social History between 1999 and 2010. As the key research base in Tianjin, the Institute reaches the domestic leading level for academic research and teaching in World History. It is the Secretariat of World Medieval History Academy in China. It issues a peer-reviewed journal Economic and Social History Review (in Chinese) since 2015. With the support of Tianjin Government’s Special Funds, the Library within the Institute was established for western language books in European Civilizations and Economic and Social History. The Institute also actively undertakes academic cooperation and exchanges with a large number of well-known universities and research institutions at home and abroad. It has several major projects funded by the National Social Sciences Foundation.
The Institute mainly focuses on Economic and Social History in the longue durée, especially European transition from the Middle Ages to modern times. It has four research centers : the Medieval Europe and Social Transformation Center, the Classical Civilization Center, the Modern and Contemporary Center, and the Comparison of Chinese and Western Civilizations Center.
The Institute has a professional research and teaching team. As the Dean, Professor Hou Jianxin is the President of World Medieval History Academy in China. There are 34 people including fifteen professors, eight associate professors, and eleven lecturers. They have published more than thirty monographs in Economic and Social History. Currently, they have translated part of the volumes of The Cambridge Ancient History and New Cambridge Medieval History. There are more than 20 projects funded by National Social Science Academy. Typically, the major projects are ‘History of European Civilizations’, ‘Primary Sources on British Economic and Social History’, and ‘Urbanization of European Rural History’. There are also two external scholars and one international scholar. People within the Institute have professional experience in History of Europe including the origins and nature of European civilization, classical civilization, urbanization and rural labor, religion and law, corporate legal system, industrial investment and banking, and comparison of modernization between China and the West. Also, the research of Islamic civilization, History of North Korea, History of Japan, History of America, and History of Egypt are remarkable.
Cooperating with Department of Foreign Languages at the University, the Institute sets up dual-degree undergraduate program ‘World History and Foreign Language’. It is approved to award Master and Doctoral degree in World History, and graduate students can pursue postdoctoral research. The Institute is also engaged in public education. It takes the lead in formulating the World History Curriculum Standards on Compulsory Education in Middle School by the Ministry of Education. The Institute is the general editor team of compiling middle school textbooks of World History.
