The evaluation of Kang Youwei by the democratic revolutionaries of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty was that "the country will perish; it is for the old to not die." This comment once made people give a thumbs up, the first sentence is from the "Zuo Zhuan" "The country will die, there will be demons", the last sentence is from the "Analects" zizhi: "The old and not dead is a thief", and the last word of the two sentences is connected to "Youwei", which is Kang Youwei's name.
As we all know, Kang Youwei participated in the Penghu Reform Law, and even the main person, he united more than 1300 people from various provinces to take the exam, jointly petitioned, and launched the "letter on the bus", although the Guangxu Emperor did not see it, but Kang Youwei still succeeded in attracting the attention of the Guangxu Emperor.
On June 16, 2004, the Guangxu Emperor summoned Kang Youwei at the Palace of Diligence at the Summer Palace and appointed him as Prime Minister Yamen Zhangjing to prepare for the change of law. It was also under the auspices of Kang Youwei that the Guangxu Emperor promoted a series of reforms, but the change failed, and in early August, Liu Cixi launched a coup d'état, imprisoned the Guangxu Emperor, and ordered the arrest of the restorationists.
After the six gentlemen were executed at the Caishikou execution ground outside Xuanwu Gate in Beijing, Kang Youwei had already fled to Japan with oil on the soles of his feet, and on the way he did not forget to publish an open letter, calling Empress Dowager Cixi a "pseudo-Lin dynasty" and deposing the Guangxu Emperor as "the most heinous crime", saying that he would "go out for help according to the edicts".
However, when Kang Youwei went to Japan, he avoided the revolutionaries, saying that he had a "secret edict" and would not be a guest, and in 1899, Kang Youwei received travel expenses from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so he left Japan and went to Canada, the United States and other countries.
Although it is a career of exile, Kang Youwei's life is very moist, even if he advocates "monogamy", Kang Youwei's side is indispensable to beautiful concubines. And this person is indeed learned, the words are also beautiful, outside often said to "save the country", the "loyal king" and "save the country" link, the Guangxu Emperor and the change of law, so it is also quite appealing.
He also told overseas Chinese that he had the "Edict of the Belt" written to him by the Guangxu Emperor, which read, "Erqi and Lin Xu, Liu Guangdi, Tan Sitong, and the comrades were properly and quickly consulted." In fact, this edict was written to Yang Rui when the Guangxu Emperor met with Yang Rui, one of the six gentlemen of the Wu Dynasty.
Kang Youwei believes that Yang Rui is dead, there is no proof of death, he did not rely on this trick, amassed a lot of money, and Kang Youwei set up overseas "Royalists" and other associations, membership is also required to pay membership fees, such as the "Royalists" regulations clearly stipulate that members of the membership need to pay a membership fee of 2 US dollars per year.
It is understood that Kang Youwei has been in exile for 16 years, and has established a total of 11 state-level general associations and 103 branches, and there are millions of registered members. Hey, although Kang Youwei can't go back to China, but abroad, relying on these membership fees and the support of overseas Chinese, his life is also happy and happy, with beautiful concubines to visit the mountains.
Why would overseas Chinese willingly sponsor Kang Youwei? Or because Kang Youwei did participate in the Penghu Reform Law, and Kang Youwei's three-inch tongue is not rotten, it is often said that his heart is full of Chinese overseas Chinese, and his disciple Liang Qichao's reputation is not low.
Liang Qichao's evaluation of him is: "Sir is the most confident person, and the doctrine he adheres to cannot be shaken by anyone." Academically, this is true, and so is doing things, never willing to accommodate his doctrine in order to do things, but always distorting the facts to accommodate his doctrine, so those who criticize Mr. Always say that he is arbitrary, stubborn, and authoritarian. ”
In 1904, Kang Youwei fled to Sweden, to be precise, played in Sweden, saw a beautiful island, and then spent 28,000 crowns to buy the island, and spent another 8,000 crowns to build a Chinese-style garden on the island, named "Beihai Caotang", which cost a total of 36,000 crowns, equivalent to 1.5 million today.
In 1913, Cixi had died, the Qing Dynasty had died, Kang Youwei ended his trip to travel around the world, returned to China, ten years later, Kang Youwei moved to Qingdao Huiquan Bay, bought a house to live, and titled his house "Tianyou Garden".