John and Alice Dewey at the Jiangsu Province Department of Education, 1920John and Alice Dewey at the Jiangsu Province Department of Education, 1920
Nanjing, Jiangsu Province
Courtesy of John Dewey Photographs Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Morris Library, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
American educator John Dewey (Duwei boshi) visited China with his wife in 1919 at the invitation of former students Hu Shi, Jiang Menglin, and Tao Xingzhi (right of Alice). The Deweys, inspired by the May Fourth reform demonstrations they witnessed a few days after their arrival, extended their stay in China to two years. During that time, Dewey delivered hundreds of lectures, often translated by Hu Shi, emphasizing the importance of education in China’s transformation.