Professor Hou Jianxin was invited to give a lecture by Henan University on General Theory of European Civilization on 18th October, 2021. The event was hosted by Professor Li Zhenhong. Revolving around the topic of European civilization, the lecture started with the clarification of basic concepts such as civilization and culture, Europe and the west. Prof. Hou Jianxin then systematically explained the establishment of federal system, meta-rules of European civilization, primary framework of federal society and other major historical events. He offered a new explanation of European civilization different from traditional narrative.
Prof. Hou Jianxin pointed out that European civilization is a kind of secondary civilization, which was the outcome of integration and recreation of multiple factors mainly Germanic, which did not originate from the Greco-Roman Classical Civilization. Professor Hou emphasized that the core of feudalism is the relations of dependence, namely the quasi-contractual relationship bonding by rights and duties.
