Editors' Note

正The JOURNAL OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS(JAC)is published annually in two fascicles by the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations(IHAC,Northeast Normal University,Changchun,Jilin Province,People’s Republic of China).The aim of JAC is to provide a forum for the discussion of various aspects of the cultural and historical processes in the Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean world,     

Editors' Note

As FHC enters a new year,we are very pleased to report on the progress the journal has made in the past year.FHC has published articles on a wide range of topics on Chinese history,featuring a variety of approaches.Whether the methodology was mainstream or cutting edge,all have inspired new ways of conceptualizing Chinese history.In addition to one issue that examined the relationships between the Qing government and its neighbor countries and border areas,FHC launched three forums in the past year.One forum asked how we might,through the lens of critical theory,Marxism,and novel approaches to 20th century capitalism,reinterpret 20th century China.Another forum discussed issues of pregnancy,childrearing,and wedding ceremonies to explore how intellectuals re-conceptualized family management by combining traditional expectations with imported,scientific concepts and practices and how scholars,educators,journalists and officials shifted relationships between Chinese families and the state.The final forum focused on state-building and the transformation of politics,society,economy,and culture under Communist rule in the 1950s and early 1960s.     

Editors' Note

<正>The JOURNAL OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS(JAC)is published annually in two fascicles by the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations(IHAC,Northeast Normal University,Changchun,Jilin Province,People’s Republic of China).The aim of JAC is to provide a forum for the discussion of various aspects of the     

Editors' Note:Peer Review System

正The JOURNAL OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS(JAC)is published annually by the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations(IHAC,Northeast Normal University,Changchun,Jilin Province,People’s Republic of China).Last year,we presented the 30th     

British Muslims: Past,Present and Future

Abstract: Around the European Union, the implication by large sections of society is that there is something intrinsically different about Islam that makes it difficult to integrate Muslims into European societies. Some of these sections of society are non‐Muslim, and are reluctant to allow such integration to take place; others are Muslim. These sentiments raise a number of issues relating to plural identities and their compatibility with modern day Europe and Islam, with such issues finding variable expressions in member‐states. The British example represents an illustrative case study, having a long history of interaction with Muslims and being the home of a large Muslim population. History bears witness that in terms of religious diversity, the U.K. was never a monolithic society based on a monoculture. From the Middle Ages until the beginning of the twentieth century, there is strong evidence to show that there was, at the least, British contact with Muslims. In Britain, just as all over Europe, Islam has a long lineage: “For British Muslims, the past does not have to be ‘another country.’”     

US—European Relations: Past and Future

In this revised text of a lecture delivered at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in June 2003, Stanley Hoffmann traces the history of America's close postwar alliance with western Europe. Out of the treaty in which America undertook to protect western Europe came the organization of NATO. Despite the difficulties and differences of opinion among its members in the early years—decolonization, German rearmament, Vietnam, US—French relations—the alliance survived and continued to survive after 1991 despite losing its main enemy, the Soviet Union. It then became a tool for managing relations between members and the newly liberated countries of central and eastern Europe and Russia. After the first Gulf War, however, NATO became a field for US—European relations, encompassing rivalry over approaches to eastern Europe, and cooperation in the Balkans. September 11 and the 'war on terrorism' marked the real turning point in the alliance and the subsequent war in Iraq in 2003 exposed deep divisions in the approach to international relations. Stanley Hoffmann concludes that it is still unclear how far Iraq has affected the substance of US foreign policy and its relations with Europe. It may be possible to predict, however, that the central importance of Europe for the US will remain under a cloud—'the days of relative harmony have not returned'.     

English and American Giving: Past and Future Imaginings

In this paper I compare the development of English and American philanthropy. A brief history of the background of English land holding and social relationships, stressing paternalism and security, is compared with that of changing American views on giving that are linked with progress and individual achievement. In both instances I use Mauss's theory of the gift. This includes such matters as the gift becoming part of the giver, the importance of emotional rather than contractual commitment to exchange, and the use of sanctions in encouraging reciprocity. Examples are provided of these attributes in comparing the giving of three well known English philanthropists with three American counterparts from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.