Kang Youwei was born in a feudal bureaucratic family. His grandfather Kang Zanxiu was a juren in Daoguang period, and his father Kang Dachu was a county magistrate in Jiangxi. Kang Youwei studied Confucianism since childhood, and began to contact western culture in 1879. 1882, Kang Youwei went to Beijing to take the rural examination in Shuntian, but failed. When I returned to South China, I passed through Shanghai, bought a large number of western books, absorbed western evolutionism and political views, and initially formed the ideological system of reform and reform.
1888, Kang Youwei once again went to Beijing to take the provincial examination in Shuntian, and took the opportunity to write to Emperor Guangxu for the first time, demanding political reform, but he was blocked. 189 1 year later, a 10,000-acre thatched cottage was founded in Guangzhou with Liang Qichao and Chen as his disciples.
1895, he went to Beijing to take an exam, and learned that the treaty of shimonoseki was signed, which attracted more than 300 people and tens of thousands of books, that is, "writing on the bus", but failed to be reached. At the end of May of that year, he wrote a letter for the third time and got the approval of Emperor Guangxu. In July, he and Liang Qichao founded "Chinese and foreign stories" and soon organized a strong society in Beijing.
1897, when Germany occupied JIAOZHOU bay, Kang Youwei wrote to ask for political reform again. In June 5438+the following year 10, Emperor Guangxu ordered Kang Youwei to express his opinions on the political reform, and he presented a book "Imperial edict as a whole" and two books "Meiji Political Reform in Japan" and "Political Reform of Peter the Great in Russia". In April, he and Liang Qichao organized to defend the National Assembly and called for saving the country and strengthening the country. /kloc-in June of 0/6, Emperor Guangxu summoned Kang Youwei in the Qin Zhengting Hall of the Summer Palace, and appointed him as Zhang Jing, the Prime Minister's yamen, to make special preparations for the political reform, known as the Reform Movement of 1898. Later, due to the intervention of Empress Dowager Cixi, the reform failed, and its specific details are still controversial.
After the failure of the political reform, Emperor Guangxu was placed under house arrest, Kang Renguang, Kang Youwei's brother, was killed, and Kang Youwei fled to Japan, claiming that he held the imperial edict, organized a royalist society, advocated enlightened autocracy and opposed the revolution. In order to gain international support, he traveled around the world and met European monarchs.
After the Revolution of 1911, Kang Youwei returned to China in 19 13, edited the magazine I can't stand it, and advocated the restoration of Confucius. As the leader of the royalist party, he opposed the republic and always planned to abolish the Puyi Emperor and reset him. 19 17, Kang Youwei and Zhang Xun, a Beiyang warlord loyal to the previous dynasty, launched the restoration and made Puyi the throne, which soon failed under the crusade of the then Prime Minister Duan of Beiyang Government.
Kang Youwei always declared his loyalty to the Qing Dynasty in his later years. After being expelled from the Forbidden City by Feng Yuxiang, Puyi personally went to Tianjin to visit the Jingyuan where Puyi lived. 1927, Kang Youwei died in Qingdao.
Kang Youwei first saw the national crisis at that time, and made a bold attempt to give practical guidance to the Xinhai Revolution led by Sun Wen.