Kang Youwei (Chinese: 康有為; March 19, 1858–March 31, 1927), born in Foshan, Guangdong, was a Chinese scholar and political reformist. He called for an end to property and the family in the interest of Chinese nationalism. Due to his desire to end the traditional Chinese family structure, he is regarded as an advocate for women's rights in China. ^*

Kang portrayed Confucius as a reformer and not a reactionary. Kang even argued the rediscovered versions of the Confucian classics as a forgery to bolster his claims. Kang was a strong believer in constitutional monarchy and wanted to remodel the country after Meiji Japan. These ideas angered his colleagues in the scholarly class who regarded him as a heretic.

He was a mentor of Liang Qichao, and the two of them participated in the Hundred Days' Reform. Both fled abroad after Cixi's palace coup.

The Qing dynasty ordered him executed by the method of ling chi or "death by a thousand cuts", and he fled to Japan. Kang and Liang, who together organized the Protect the Emperor Society, travelled throughout the Chinese diaspora promoting constitutional monarchy and competed against Sun Yat-sen's Revive China Society and Revolutionary Alliance for funds and converts.

After China became a republic in 1912 he remained an advocate of constitutional monarchy, and for this aim he launched a failed coup d'état in 1917. General Zhang Xun and his queue wearing soldiers occupied Beijing and declared the restoration of Puyi on July 1. The affair was a huge miscalculation as the nation was very anti-monarchist. Kang became suspicious that Zhang did not care for constitutionalism and was merely using the restoration to become the power behind the throne. He abandoned the mission and fled to the US legation. On July 12, Duan Qirui easily took the city.

Kang's reputation serves as an important barometer for political attitudes of his time. In the span of less than twenty years he went from being regarded as an iconoclastic radical to an anachronistic pariah without significantly modifying his ideology.

Kang died of natural illness in the city of Qingdao, Shandong in 1927. He was 69.

Kang's daughter, Kang Tongbi (康同壁) was a student at Barnard College.

Reference

1. Jung-pang Lo. K'ang Yu-wei: A Biography and a Symposium. Library of Congress number 66-20911.

See M. E. Cameron, The Reform Movement in China, 1898–1912 (1931, repr. 1963); biography ed. and tr. by Lo Jung-pang (1967).

Kang youwei Grandson : Kang Ta siang (Live in Indonesia)

External links

• Infoplease.com Profile
• K'ang Yu-wei on Encyclopedia.com

Qing Dynasty | Chinese politicians | People from Guangdong

Kang Youwei | Kang Youwei | 康有為 | 康有为