John Dewey, Confucius, and the May Fourth Chinese Intellectuals’ Identity Transformation

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Interrogating Democracy and Pragmatism: Race, Identity, Curriculum, and Public Education (Table 9)

Abstract

During the May Fourth period, a group of John Dewey's Chinese students played a crucial role in promoting Dewey's influence. In terms of educational experience, most of Dewey's Chinese students shared a commonality: before getting access to Dewey's philosophy in the U.S, throughout their formative ages, they had become immersed within Confucian education, which aimed to help cultivate their character as an exemplary person (jun zi). On returing to China, such a group of young scholars dramatically broke through Confucian "shackles", and proceeded to turn themselves into liberal reform-minded intellectuals.Taking Hu Shih as an example, this study explores what style of role Confucian and Deweyan ideas performed respectively in the transformation of Dewey's Chinese followers 'identity.

Author

• James Yang, Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University