Is Kang Youwei, the representative of the reformists in the late Qing Dynasty, a true hero or a hypocrite?

/kloc-in the 9th century, the feudal system that ruled China for more than two thousand years began to decline gradually. Contrary to the East, the West gained a new life after suffering and produced a new social system-capitalism.

Because of the industrial revolution and the concentration and expansion of capital, the national strength of western countries has become stronger, and the center of the world economy has also been handed over to the West. The greed of capitalists and the thirst for new systems have made these countries start to look for new commodity markets and raw materials.

Because of Kelpolo's propaganda, the ancient East is the Duran peanut lighthouse in the eyes of capitalists. When the local market was no longer satisfied, they turned their eyes to the East without hesitation.

At the beginning, western countries didn't know the depth of Qing Dynasty, but they still had a good face, hoping that East and West could cooperate together. But when they were rejected by the Qing Dynasty, they realized that the country was not strong and began to plunder savagely.

There is no doubt that the collision between the strength of the west and the weakness of the east has only one result, that is, the east has been defeated and humiliated again and again. /kloc-The period from the end of 0/9 to the beginning of the 20th century was the most painful period in China, which we can never forget.

The decadent feudal autocratic monarchy can no longer revive the country. If you want to be rich and strong, you can only change. China scholar-officials first accepted constitutional monarchy. Kang Youwei is a representative figure of reformism, who once led the Book on the Bus and the Reform and Reform.

In the modern history of China with nine-year compulsory education, Kang Youwei appeared in the "Bus Writing" and "Reform Movement of 1898" in the last years of Guangxu.

Although the history books did not evaluate him, these two things also made everyone realize Kang Youwei's progress and bloodiness. After treaty of shimonoseki was signed, 1300 people were invited to write thousands of books, which shows the bloodiness of China scholars. When Empress Dowager Cixi and the feudal old school were powerful, they still assisted Emperor Guangxu in carrying out reforms.

But Kang Youwei himself is controversial in history. After that, the world has two comments on him. One is to praise his progress and the reform and change during the national disaster. The other is that Kang Youwei is a hypocrite. Although the reform was put forward, it was full of rhetoric and even brought personal interests.

By Kang Youwei's side, the biggest stain is the "Imperial edict incident" and taking a wife and concubinage.

In the 24th year of Guangxu, Kang Youwei and other progressives began to reform with the support of Emperor Guangxu. However, due to the powerful conservative forces, this reform only lasted for more than 100 days, which is known as the "hundred-day reform" in history.

After the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, six gentlemen headed by Tan Sitong were beheaded, while Kang Youwei fled to Japan, and then contacted the righteous overseas with the so-called "imperial edict" to raise funds, saying that he wanted to revitalize China. But in fact, these funds were all collected by him.

The "imperial edict" is true, but it was given to Kang Youwei by Emperor Guangxu. The real imperial edict was written to Yang Rui when Guangxu met him. It reads "Xu Lin, Liu Guangdi, Tan Sitong and other comrades should raise business as soon as possible".

After Yang Rui was killed, Kang Youwei raised funds overseas under the pretext that he had the imperial edict of Emperor Guangxu. He thought that all the clients were dead, and this lie would never be exposed. But in fact, when Yang Rui's son returned to Sichuan with his father's body, he sewed Dai Daizhao into the collar of Huang Shangyi, a Sichuan juren, and brought it back to his hometown. As soon as the real emperor calligraphy appeared, Kang Youwei's lies fell apart.

Then there is "taking a wife and concubinage". It is very common for feudal literati to have three wives and four concubines It seems that the accusation against Kang Youwei is not excessive. But the key point is that Kang Youwei was one of the first people who advocated equality between men and women and monogamy. Talk about monogamy, equality between men and women, but be three wives and four concubines.

Kang Youwei has six recorded wives: Yuan Pei Zhang Yunzhu, second wife Liang Suijue, third wife He Youli, fourth wife Shi Ganghezi, fifth wife Liao and sixth wife.

Among them, Mrs. Liu, Zhang Guang, was originally the daughter of a poor family. When washing gauze by the stream, Kang Youwei, who was over 60 years old, accidentally saw it and was taken into the house.

No wonder Kang Youwei will be called a hypocrite by later generations. In addition to the above, Kang Youwei has an antique scandal, which I won't say for the time being.

Personally, Kang Youwei, a feudal scholar-bureaucrat, was educated by Confucian tradition since childhood. He was able to break through his own imprisonment, see the advancement of the West, and advocate learning from the West, which was progressive. However, some of his practices in his later years, whether he married concubines or emphasized restoring ancient ways to protect the king, all had their limitations.

And I personally appreciate Tan Sitong more than Kang Youwei. Tan sitong died for political reform, but he actually had a chance to escape. However, when someone asked him to leave quickly, he said: "The political reform in every country is caused by bloodshed and sacrifice. Today, China has never heard of any bloodshed caused by political reform, and this country is not prosperous. If so, please start from the beginning. " He wants to awaken the people with his own blood and life. What a gentleman! ?