On May 29, 2024, at the invitation of Hou Jianxin, senior professor of Tianjin Normal University and director of IEC, Professor Chen Xiaolv of Nanjing University gave a lecture on "European Social Welfare System".The lecture was presided over by Professor Hou Jianxin, and faculty memebers and students of IEC and the School of History and Culture attended.

Professor Chen Xiaolv is a professor and doctoral supervisor of Nanjing University, vice president of the Chinese Society of British History, honorary president of the World History Society of Jiangsu Province, and platform leader of the peripheral national platform of the Collaborative Innovation Center of the South China Sea. He has successively led more than 10 kinds of projects of the National Social Science Foundation and the Sino-European cooperation projects, and has published more than 80 papers in various academic journals. Professor Chen Xiaolu is also the leader of the sub-theme "Poverty and Social Security Volume" (published) of the major bidding project "Research on the Evolution of European Civilization" undertaken by IEC of the National Social Science Foundation.

Prof. Chen Xiaolv's lecture consists of four main parts. First, the evolution of the European social welfare system. In the Middle Ages, the family and social organizations were the two main bodies of livelihood protection in Western Europe, and in the process of transformation from traditional to modern society, the state has grown to be the new main body of livelihood protection, which continues to this day. Secondly, the foundation of European social welfare system. On the whole, European countries have generally been able to establish a sound social welfare system, not only because of their advantage of in the process of modernization (in particular, their strong productivity far exceeding that of the rest of the world), but also because of their controlling advantage over colonies and developing countries in the world market. Third, the "merits" and "demerits" of the European social welfare system. On the one hand, the soft power control model represented by the provision of social welfare has effectively resolved a number of intense social conflicts in developed countries; on the other hand, the high welfare system is also devouring the excessive-modernized Europe, which has profoundly affected people's value orientation, lifestyle, demographic changes, etc., and has become the root of the crisis of the European welfare system and even the European civilization. Fourthly, the historical experience and lessons of the construction of the European welfare system and the revelation and warning to China. The design of welfare system standards should become an integral part of economic development, with foresight and adjustable space, which will maintain the sustainable development of society and civilization.

Prof. Hou Jianxin highly affirmed Prof. Chen Xiaolv’s report on the double-edged sword role of the European welfare system, the stage difference between the construction of the Chinese and Western welfare systems, and the appropriateness of the welfare protection.