John Dewey and Chinese Education (A Centennial Reflection)

This book celebrates the centennial of Dewey’s visit to China (1919–1921). Reflecting on the history of Dewey’s visit is critical to understanding China’s modernization and to reevaluating the early efforts of the radical intellectuals in the May Fourth Movement (1919), some of whom were Dewey’s students at Columbia University. This study also helps us to critically reflect on the China-US relationship for our contemporary world. The historical, philosophical and comparative perspectives applied in this book may shed light on current conflicts. Dewey’s thoughts were well-received by different scholars but also misperceived or misinterpreted in different historical periods. This project tries to understand the challenges of both cultures (Chinese and Western) by using this historical episode as a distant mirror to better perceive and understand the present.

By reviewing this historical event, we also find new space to reinterpret Eastern philosophies such as Confucianism and Buddhism. We find that there’s some surprising commonalities shared by Confucianism, Buddhism, and Deweyan pragmatism that provide possibilities for seeking a more inclusive conceptual framework for education in the West as well as the East.