Abstract: In the early 1920s, to call John Dewey an internationalist would be to state the obvious. He had travelled to Japan, Russia, Mexico, Turkey and China. Of all these places, he stayed in China the longest-two years and two months (May 1919 to July 1921)-and wrote the most about his experiences there. Unfortunately, too much of the literature addresses how Dewey influenced China. What the author focuses on in this article is how China influenced Dewey instead. Specifically, he explains how Dewey conceived experience-offering an account of his so-called "metaphysics of experience"-in order to then appreciate how Dewey appreciated his own China experience.

Key words: pragmatism, China, John Dewey, experience, culture, American-Chinese relations, Chinese philosophy