Kang Youwei: Is a double-faced man full of contradictions a true saint or a hypocrite?

Kang Youwei was born in 1858, and in the 14th year of Guangxu (1888). He wrote to Emperor Guangxu for the first time and asked for political reform, but he was blocked. 1898, with the support of Emperor Guangxu, the Reform Movement of 1898 began. Later, when the Reform Movement of 1898 failed, he fled to Japan, organized a royalist society and planned the restoration of Puyi. 19 17, Kang Youwei and Zhang Xun launched the restoration, and made Puyi emperor, which soon failed under Duan's crusade. He died in Qingdao in 16 (1927).

Kang Youwei picture:

Most people's impression of Kang Youwei is limited to history books. The book said that he was an important politician, thinker and educator in the late Qing Dynasty, and a representative of bourgeois reformism. Together with Liang Qichao, he led the Reform Movement of 1898 and advocated following the example of Britain to implement constitutional monarchy in China.

Although Kang Youwei accepted advanced western ideas and dared to oppose China's solidified Confucianism, there were still many feudal factors in his bones.

Let's talk about one aspect of his praise. Kang Youwei's grandfather, father and granduncle were all local officials in the Qing Dynasty. Both his elders and his later teacher Zhu Ciqi highly praised Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties. Coupled with his own cleverness, he knows the Confucian classics like the back of his hand. Kang Youwei also received strict feudal orthodox education, studied classics and history, and wanted to gain fame and career by his academic hours. Later, Liang Qichao became his favorite pupil.

Liang Qichao:

The imperialist aggression and corruption in the Qing Dynasty ignited the fire of saving the country in the young Kang Youwei's chest. The peril of the country and the stimulation of reality made him doubt traditional culture and academics. With the prosperity of the west, Kang Youwei is determined to learn from the west to save the motherland in danger. Since then, it has absorbed western evolutionism and political views, and initially formed the ideological system of reform and reform.

He wrote two books, A Study of New Learning and Pseudo-Classics and A Study of Confucius' Reform. In the book, he reformed the ancient system in the name of Confucius, but his spirit of reform had a strong shock and response in the intellectual circles, posing a great threat to the feudal die-hards, so these two books were regarded as heresies by them.

Later, he went to Beijing to catch the exam, accompanied by Zhang Jian, a later champion industrialist. Kang Youwei took out a stack of books on the table and used an awl to understand. He said proudly, "I have a habit of reading as much as possible with an awl." This move shocked Zhang Jian. The old-school reviewers of Kang Youwei's article saw it at a glance and thought that this person was too crazy, so they chose another one.

Later, when the list came out, other juren rushed to see it. Only Kang Youwei said to Zhang Jian, what does panic mean? He picked him up in his sedan chair. Sure enough, a sedan chair came soon, but it wasn't him, it was Zhang Jian who got the top prize, and Kang Youwei was hit in the face.

Treaty of shimonoseki signed:

China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and signed "treaty of shimonoseki" which humiliated the country. The people of China are angry. Kang Youwei took advantage of the opportunity to take the exam in Beijing, joined with more than 300 candidates from all provinces/KLOC-0, and signed a letter on the eighth day of April (May 2) to launch a "bus petition". However, "writing on the bus" was rejected, and Emperor Guangxu did not see it.

Later, after becoming a scholar, Kang Youwei worked in the Ministry of Industry and continued to write letters to Emperor Guangxu. This time Emperor Guangxu read his memorial, and since then Kang Youwei has written articles one after another. 1897, when Germany occupied JIAOZHOU bay, Kang Youwei wrote to ask for political reform again. Before the Reform Movement of 1898, Kang Youwei wrote two monographs on the history of Meiji Restoration. With the aggravation of the national crisis, Emperor Guangxu finally decided to appoint Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao in 1898.

Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi:

Kang Youwei put forward many suggestions on political, economic, military, cultural and educational reforms, including drafting a constitution, setting up a system bureau, forbidding women to bind their feet, cutting redundant officials, dismissing officials, abolishing grain transportation, withdrawing lijin, cutting green camp, releasing flag soldiers, abolishing stereotyped writing, trying to recruit scholars, reforming academies, and abolishing brothels. He hoped that China could develop capitalism without fundamentally changing the feudal system. It is required to protect industry and commerce and give China capitalism a proper development; It is required to retrain the navy and army to save China from the crisis of being carved up by imperialism; It calls for the abolition of the imperial examination, the establishment of schools and the organization of Shi Jing University Hall (the predecessor of Peking University) to train new talents. At this time, he also actively planned and implemented the New Deal with Liang Qichao, Tan Sitong and Yang Shenxiu.

During the political reform, Kang Youwei was repeatedly attacked by the old school and obstructed by many parties. The intervention of Empress Dowager Cixi made the Reform Movement of 1898 fail. Later, six gentlemen were killed, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao were wanted and fled to Japan, and Emperor Guangxu was jailed. It can be said that the Reform Movement of 1898 was the biggest highlight of Kang Youwei's life.

However, Kang Youwei has a strong dependence on Confucianism, a feudal traditional thought with the core of "three cardinal guides and five permanents". This led to his ugly side being spurned.

Kang Youwei in Sweden:

After the failure of political reform, Kang Youwei went into exile. Others brag about their political achievements, distort the facts, speak overseas to defraud money, and defraud overseas Chinese to support the revolution. Nominally, the money is donated to the country. He linked "loyalty to the monarch" with "saving the country", and linked Guangxu emperor with political reform. "Savior saves the country" has a certain appeal overseas.

However, according to statistics: "From 1898 19 13 to 16, Kang Youwei has traveled to more than 30 countries and regions such as the United States, Britain, Italy, Canada, Greece, Egypt, Brazil, Mexico and India." Kang Youwei took the donated money as his extravagant capital, took his family everywhere and didn't donate it back to China.

Kang Youwei strongly opposed polygamy, but he married six wives himself. Except that the wife is "the life of the parents, the words of the matchmaker", the rest are concubines. Even a few of them were underage when they got married. At the age of 62, Kang married his wife aged 265,438+0 and returned to China. What a shameless womanizer.

Kang Youwei and his wives in his later years:

However, Kang Youwei's thought has always remained in the reform and political reform, and he was an advanced element in Japan. When he came back from 19 13, he was already a conservative and finally became a royalist. He denounced the domestic revolutionary forces and opposed the overthrow of the feudal system. Especially later, Kang Youwei and Yuan Shikai colluded with each other and respected Confucius' retro thought. He changed from a radical who advocated political reform and innovation to a spiritual leader who restored the monarchy, which also made many people hate him gradually.

List of royalists: (Kang Youwei is the fourth from the right in the first row)

Kang Youwei has been preparing for the restoration of royalists after the Revolution of 1911. 1 965438+On July, 20071day, Kang Youwei secretly went to Beijing to establish the restoration of Puyi's throne together with Zhang Xun, the "braid handsome". 12 years, Duan entered Beijing and the restoration failed. Since then, Kang Youwei has lived in seclusion in Qingdao and has always declared his loyalty to the Qing emperor. 1924, Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City by Feng Yuxiang, and he went to Tianjin himself. With donations from overseas Chinese all over the world, he lives in luxury.

1927 Kang Youwei died of food poisoning and bleeding from seven orifices. There are different opinions about who the murderer is. Some say it's the remnants of Cixi, some say it's the Kuomintang, and some say it's Japanese, and they don't know it until now.