In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, a mighty reform movement was vigorously launched with the support of Emperor Guangxu, and Kang Youwei and others, who supported the reform, also became an instant hit, becoming an awakened cutting-edge intellectual, and were praised by countless young people. However, only three months later, under the joint strangulation of the old aristocracy, the reform failed, and most of the key members of the "Reform Faction" were hunted and killed, but Kang Youwei escaped by luck.
With the help of his friends, Kang Youwei quietly left the capital, took a small road to the port, and used a fake identity to board a cruise ship and travel east to Japan to "avoid the limelight". However, Japan's attitude towards him was very cold, and even a little disgusted, and Japanese political leaders even wanted to drive him away. In a hurry, Kang Youwei hurriedly asked for help from his **, who **knew a lot of Japan**, so he took the trouble to say good things for him, and after trying his best to speak, this won him a place to turn around, and the Japanese ** finally agreed to take him in.
During this period, Mr. Sun personally visited Kang and persuaded him to join the revolutionary party, overthrow the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty with many people with lofty ideals, and establish a ** that belonged to all the people. But Kang Youwei is still an old intellectual in essence, and he has special feelings for the feudal dynasty, and the reason why he supports the reform is essentially to maintain the rule of the feudal dynasty, so he will definitely not make a revolution with Mr. Sun. Mr. Sun was disappointed because of this, and he and Kang Youwei finally broke up unhappily.
Not long after, the Qing court learned that Kang was hiding in Japan, so it sent envoys to negotiate with the Japanese cabinet, demanding that Kang be expelled immediately. Japan had many interests involved with the Qing court, so it naturally refused to fall out with the Qing court for a small Kang Youwei, so he gave Kang a travel expense, and then sent him on a ship to North America. After Kang Youwei arrived in the United States, he immediately delivered a long speech, vigorously advocating the outdated and backward "royalist" thinking.
Young people definitely don't eat Kang's set, but some middle-aged and elderly people with feudal ideas love to listen to Kang Youwei's speech, and treat him as a guest of honor, and take the initiative to give him money and gifts. One year later, Kang Youwei left North America and went to Europe, settling in a small city on the Mediterranean coast. At the same time, the situation in the country had undergone drastic changes, the revolutionaries had been waging uprisings seeking to establish bourgeois power, and the Qing court was already in turmoil.
Kang Youwei was shocked when he learned the news, he couldn't accept the fall of the feudal dynasty, and he didn't know how to face China in the future. After thinking about it, Kang Youwei decided to live in Europe forever and spend the rest of his life in a foreign country. After a long period of research, he set his sights on a small island in Sweden, which was very similar to his native Guangdong, and he was delighted.
In the end, Kang Youwei spent a lot of money to buy this small island, and built a Chinese-style courtyard on the island, in which pavilions, gardens and flowing water are all available, and it was not long before he took over his wife and children, and the family lived happily. Many people may be curious, how can Kang Youwei have so much money as a fugitive, in fact, Kang did everything to collect money during his escape, and he even speculated, and his income was actually very considerable.
When the time came to 1911, the revolutionaries finally overthrew the feudal dynasty, Kang Youwei returned to China immediately after learning the news, trying to "turn the tide" and restore the imperial system. But at that time, the concept of republic and democracy had already been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and everyone did not eat Kang Youwei's set at all, and this farce of restoration still ended in failure, and Kang himself was immediately wanted by Beiyang**, and was forced to leave Beijing and flee south to Guangdong to live in seclusion.
During the Revolution, this controversial figure came to the end of his life, and the small island he bought in Sweden was later abandoned by Sweden**, and is now overgrown and dilapidated. But the locals remembered Kang Youwei and adapted his story into a beautiful legend, passed down from generation to generation, in which he was a righteous "knight" from the East who fought to protect the "king", only to be defeated and forced into exile in a foreign land...
In fact, the controversy about Kang Youwei has always existed, objectively speaking, he has made a great contribution to the development of Chinese history, he personally created a new era, and let China move towards progress. But from another aspect, Kang Youwei has many other shortcomings, such as he is greedy for life and afraid of death, pursues advantages and avoids disadvantages, and still has a lot of conservative tendencies in his bones, and his personality and politics are very weak and compromised. And after he fled, he cheated money everywhere in the name of "royalist", without any integrity and bottom line at all, and his later restoration actions were like clowns jumping off the beam. There is no doubt that he was a successful speculator and at the same time a failed reformer.