Firstly, Professor HOU introduced the special historical background of the birth and development of the World History Discipline in China. He said that strictly speaking, there was no idea of world history in ancient China. There was only a self-centered idea of “land under heaven(Tianxia)” with people knew little about the world outside. In China, different from the Chinese history Discipline, the emergence of World History Discipline related to the Opium War in the mid-19thcentury, Chinese people’s “open eyes to see the world” for the first time, and the great changes which unprecedented for a thousand years. The discipline was born contemporary with Chinese modern history, and it had the innate value of enlightenment.
Secondly, the subject of the rise of Chinese nation was bound to China’s economic status and economic strength before modern times. Professor HOU introduced the research achievements of himself and foreign scholars, and made a systematic analysis and comparison of the fluctuations in total GDP and per capita GDP between China and the West. Then, he answered the question of why China lost its vantage while Europe surpassed it. Professor HOU reviewed a series of historical phenomena in Europe since the establishment of feudalism in the 9thcentury, and made a corresponding comparison with China.
Finally, Professor HOU pointed out that we should carry forward the tradition of absorbing everything and the open attitude from the Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty.And we should also be good at taking advantages of others. Chinese civilization had gone through thousands of years, and it had been handed down from generation to generation and developed continually. The power came from "the backbone of China" by LU Xun. They were also the backbone of the rise of China in the 21st century. The rise of China required not only elites but also numerous citizens. Over the past 30 years, we had seen a steady improvement in the quality of the citizens. Therefore, we had the reason to be hopeful about the future.
(2014-3-25)
