The “International Seminar on Social Changes in Countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt”, jointly sponsored by the Institute of Sociology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and Shanghai Academy, was grandly held at the Shanghai Hall of Gucun Park Hotel from October 17 to 18, 2015.

Since the great changes wrought in the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, particularly during the mid-1990s, the countries heavily influenced by the ideology as well as political, social and economic systems of the former Soviet Union, including Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria and China, have faced pressure from social transformation and political reform, undergoing social changes with a speed and depth rarely seen in the history of human civilization. The issues arising therefrom have attracted research by many scholars. How to analyze the social issues, explore corresponding solutions and thus offer reference for the social transformation of Eastern European countries and China, that were once under the deep influence of communist ideology is the basis for the launch of the seminar.

The one-and-one-half-day seminar drew nearly 30 scholars from the Institute of Sociology of CASS, Shanghai Academy, the Bureau of International Cooperation of CASS, Shanghai University, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Wen Xueguo, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy presided over the opening ceremony. He briefed the information about Shanghai Academy, extended welcome to all the attending scholars on behalf of Shanghai Academy and fully affirmed the theme and significance of the seminar. Chen Guangjin, Director of the Institute of Sociology of CASS, Andrzej Rychard, Director of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Tomas Kostelecky, Director of the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Imre Kovách, researcher with the Institute of Sociology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and Dobrinka Kostova, researcher with the Institute of Sociology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, each delivered speeches.

After the opening ceremony, attendees gave keynote lectures and had extensive discussions from diverse perspectives, including social transformation, policy changes, education and social mobility, social inequality, social networks, social participation, modern agriculture and the informal economy.

The closing ceremony was chaired by Zhao Kebin, Deputy Director of the Institute of Sociology of CASS. He soundly endorsed the speeches and discussions by all the scholars at the seminar, and considered the discussed issues were sure to offer rich experience and theoretical basis for the present social governance in China. He also reached preliminary consensus with the attendees on the submission and publication of papers presented at the seminar. The attending scholars agreed that the seminar marked a new beginning for academic exchanges and cooperation among the countries.

When the meeting was over, the attending scholars, led by Wang Chunguang, researcher with the Institute of Sociology of CASS, went to Taicang for investigation into the construction of grassroots communities in China. Ji Weimin, Director of Secretariat of Shanghai Academy, went in company.