Speech by Consul General Zhao Jian at the Centennial Colloquium on Dewey: Then and Now

尊敬的智默校长、阿尔贝曼校长、赫克曼教授，

女士们、先生们：

　　大家下午好。很高兴应邀参加纪念杜威访华一百周年教育论坛。首先，我谨代表中国驻芝加哥总领事馆，向本次论坛的召开表示祝贺！

President Zimmer, 

Director Abelmann, 

Professor Heckman,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon. It's a pleasure for me to join you at this Centennial Colloquium on Dewey. First of all, on behalf of the Chinese Consulate General in Chicago, I would like to extend our congratulations on the opening of this event !

　　杜威是20世纪很有影响的著名哲学家、教育家。100年前，杜威对中国进行了长达2年2个月的访问，走访了13个省市，进行了200场演讲，他的教育思想在中国得以广泛传播。

　　与此同时，中国悠久的文化传统和20世纪初的社会变革也深深地影响并感染了杜威。杜威访华期间恰逢中国的五四运动爆发，这场中国近现代史上具有里程碑意义的重大事件给杜威带来了丰富而深刻的启示。杜威对为独立、统一、富强而奋斗的中国人民充满了深情。两年多的访问使杜威与中国和中国人民、与中西文化交流事业结下了不解之缘。

Mr. Dewey was a well-known philosopher and educator of the 20th century. One hundred years ago, he visited China for two years and two months, during which he visited 13 provinces and cities and gave nearly 200 lectures. His education thoughts were well received and widely shared in China.

At the same time, the long-standing history and rich culture of China and its endeavor for social changes in the early 20th century also deeply influenced Mr. Dewey. His arrival in China coincided with the start of the May 4th Movement, a milestone event in China's modern history that Mr. Dewey found profoundly thought-provoking and inspiring. He was sympathetic to the Chinese people effort for national independence, unity and prosperity. During his more than two-year stay in China, he forged a deep attachment to China and the Chinese people and heavily engaged in the promotion of cultural exchanges between China and the West.

　　100年过去了，杜威的教育思想仍在对中国现代教育事业产生着重要影响。同时，他所关心支持的中美友好也早已深入人心。今年是中美建交40周年，40年来，两国关系历经风雨，取得历史性的发展。中美互为最大贸易伙伴。2018年，两国人员往来超过530万人次，中国在美留学生总数超过40万人，美在华留学生也达2万多人。两国已建立50对友好省州和227对姐妹城市。

Today, one hundred years on, Dewey's education thoughts are still influencing education debates in China. In the meantime, the China-U.S. friendship that he cared about and supported has taken root in the hearts of the people. This year marks the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. Over the past 40 years, our bilateral relations have gone through a lot and made historic progress. Now China and the U.S. are each other's largest trading partners. In 2018, more than 5.3 million people traveled between our two countries, the number of Chinese students studying in the U.S. exceeded 400 thousand and that of U.S. students in China exceeded 20 thousand. Moreover, 50 friendly province-state and 227 sister-city relationships have been established between our two sides.