Dewey's influence on Chinese education has been described as a prime example of the transfer of knowledge from the West to the East. This article investigates the precise process of this transfer by re-examining two themes stressed in current scholarship: Dewey's thoughts on education and democracy and his incremental approach to educational and social reform. In doing so, it explores the many roles Dewey played in both radical and moderate reforms and in an educational discourse that shifted its focus from democratic education to education informed by the scientific attitude. As a result, it raises further theoretical questions about the conceptualisation, unity and diversity, and 'influence' of Dewey in transfer processes. In this article, we argue that Dewey's ideas were subject to constant reinvention in Republican China and that the received Dewey was largely a fragmented Dewey born out of its ever-shifting socio-political and cultural context.