ThisKang YouweiIn the last years of the Qing Dynasty, he was also a figure, and it was he who united the political elite to give the emperor a letter of 10,000 words after the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which opened the prelude to one of the most popular political reforms in the late Qing Dynasty.
At that time, Kang Youwei could be called the core figure of the reformers. ButAfter the failure of the reform, Kang Youwei was forced to go into exile.
According to common sense, he fled his homeland in a hurry, not to mention that he was penniless, and he should not have much money. But he wasWhile in exile in Sweden, he spent a lot of money on a private island, what the hell is going on?
Kang Youwei can be called the most tossed figure in the last years of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, don't look at his defeat to Cixi and Yuan Shikai and forced to go into exile, butHis life in exile was a colourful one.
He was in exileclaimed to have gotten the edict of Emperor Guangxu, Emperor Guangxu asked him to go overseas to gather Chinese wealth and save the emperor who was imprisoned by Cixi.
Kang Youwei, who opened the company).
Kang Youwei relied on this name to set up a company to save the Qing Emperor. This company is an enterprise founded by Kang Youwei to learn Xi advanced private company system in the West. MoreoverKang Youwei also gave his private company a royalist veneer, which made it receive a lot of attention in that era.
Kang Youwei's company initially relied on the name of raising money to save the emperor and absorbed a large number of overseas Chinese members。Every member has to pay a five-dollar membership fee when they join the company, and that's the early 20th century.
As the largest industrial country, the United States still has a strong currency. The five dollars is not a small amount for the average American family.
The United States at the beginning of the 20th century).
Kang Youwei relied on this method and quickly raised the first pot of gold for himself. ButHow could he really use this money to save Emperor Guangxu?Kang Youwei's company used the money raised to open East West Bank in the United States.
You must know that the beginning of the last century was a period of rapid development in the United States, and the traditional industrial and financial industries were booming. At that time, whoever opened a bank would be able to make money. And Kang opened the East West Bank for himself, and he was dressed as a royalist, and Kang Youwei was his own coat, so he did get the support of many Chinese.
Overseas Chinese) after making money by engaging in financeKang Youwei went to South American countries to invest in real estate and infrastructure, and then went to Hong Kong, which was still controlled by the British at that time, and set up a ** company to do transit business
In just a few years, he has saved a huge amount of assets for himself. WhileMost of this money was actually spent by himself, let's say buying a private island in Sweden.
At that time, Kang Youwei was nominally going overseas, but in fact he was traveling。He traveled all over North America and Europe, saw all the sights of the world, and finally settled in Sweden for a short time.
Kang Youwei when traveling).
At that time, Sweden was indeed very good, as a Nordic country, Sweden was politically a small transparent, and its industry was like that. However, the industry is not so developed, and Sweden has preserved quite good natural scenery. At least at that time, Sweden must have been much better than that of highly industrialized countries such as Britain and France.
In addition, Sweden is located on the Scandinavian Peninsula, which has a polar climate at the northern end but a temperate climate at the central and southern ends, so the scenery here is very interesting. WhileKang Youwei, as a famous educator and thinker, of course, can't resist the attraction of this scenery.
Scenic Sweden).
He spent 36,000 SEK in 1904A small island was purchased off the coast of Baden, a seaside town south of the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
He also named the islandBeihai Thatched Cottage。The name Beihai is actually very interesting, because the island he bought is in the Baltic Sea. But he named the private island he bought Beihai Thatched Cottage, so it is likely that it is not referring to the Baltic Sea, but may be referring to the Beihai Sea in Beijing.
Swedish island) because in the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were emperors' palaces near the North Sea. So I think Kang Youwei is actually showing his political ambitions through this way of naming, and he is still waiting for the day when he returns to Beijing. But it's not really a big dealThe most noteworthy thing is the money Kang Youwei spent to buy the island.
You must know that 36,000 Swedish kronor is equivalent to 1.5 million yuan now. In this era when the average company is only a few thousand yuan a month, we want to earn this 1.5 million yuan, and we can't do it for decades without eating or drinking. But Kang Youwei dared to spend it casually. What's more, the money was almost wasted later.
This Kang Youwei did not live in exile overseas all his life. In 1913, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, that is, in the second year of **, Kang Youwei returned to China. Of course, he found a good reason for himself, that is, his mother died at that time, and he had to return to China to mourn
For more than ten years, Kang Youwei lived almost in China until his death in 1927. So in the past 10 years, the Beihai Cottage has completely lost its owner, and almost no one has repaired it, so who will the island belong to?
According to the rumored news,At that time, Kang Youwei did not buy the ownership of the island, but only the right to use it.
After Kang Youwei left, the island was undeveloped, and no one else wanted to buy it. SoAfter the expiration of the right of use purchased by Kang Youwei, Sweden** took back the island。It wasn't until modern times that people invested money to develop it into a tourist attraction.
Now the island also attracts a large number of tourists every year, many of whom are Chinese. And the Chinese are willing to go to this remote island to have a look, not because the scenery here is really good, but just for the name of Kang Youwei.
There are also many ChineseUntil now, the North Sea Cottage was called Kang Youwei Island。But time has passed, and now the island is really just a little bit of a historical and cultural connection to us.
The island after development).
No matter how you look at it, Kang Youwei spent a huge amount of money to buy a small island in the middle of nowhere, which is really a waste of money. You must know that when Kang Youwei relied on the skin of the royalists and gathered a lot of wealth to squander everywhere, 40,000 Chinese were still living in dire straits.
After Kang Youwei's death, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation broke out successively, and it was not until 49 years later that everyone finally lived a good life. And in those days, ifKang Youwei uses the money to make a charity**, or invests in a few schools and hospitals, which is much more valuable than buying a useless island.
This is also why the evaluation of Kang Youwei in today's historical circles is polarized, some people say that he is the vanguard of political reform, but there are also people who feel that Kang Youwei has a loss of personal morality.
In his later years, I think that only by looking at Kang Youwei from a pluralistic perspective can I draw correct and objective conclusions.
He dared to speak out and call for reform in those days, but what he did in his later years did have an impact on his own glorious image, so I thinkKang Youwei is a complex person in his own right. And we don't need to worry about Kang Youwei's fullness, after all, more than 100 years have passed, what's the use of dwelling on it?
Li Jiangang. "Kangyouwei Island in Stockholm. "Hubei Today 08 (2005): 68Li Jiangang. Sweden has one"Kang Youwei Island"[j].Times Discovery, 2013