Kang Youwei bought the island for a hundred years, and now the island belongs
In 1904, Kang Youwei purchased an unnamed island in Sweden and spent a lot of money to build it into an ancient garden, named "Beihai Thatched Cottage". The island became a retirement place for him and his five aunts.
However, his comfortable life lasted only three years before he was forced to leave due to financial problems. In order to raise travel expenses, Kang Youwei raised money everywhere in the name of justice, and was ridiculed by Wu Changshuo as "fleeing for 16 years, going through 31 countries, no one can match, and he is an eternal Kang saint".
Hearing this, Kang Youwei didn't dare to respond, because the bad things he had done over the years had been exhausted, and he couldn't even keep the island he bought.
Historically, Kang Youwei's experience and the fate of the islands he bought have always attracted much attention. Kang Youwei was born in Nanhai District, Guangdong Province, and his family had a feudal bureaucratic background.
He has been very fond of reading since he was a child and has a deep understanding of classical culture. However, he lived at a time when the country was in crisis, and the edifice was about to collapse. He decided to abandon his traditional secondary school and turn to the West in the hope of finding a way to save his country.
At the age of 20, Kang Youwei developed a strong interest in Japan's Meiji Restoration, and at the age of 22, he was taught by a foreigner, absorbing many Western evolutionary ideas and forming the earliest ideas of the Restoration.
These ideas left a deep mark on his history and gave him a lot of anticipation for the future of his island.
In 1895, the thirty-three-year-old Kang Youwei stepped into the capital as a jinshi, looking forward to participating in the examination and the future of the country with many students. However, the news from the Yamen was like a thunderbolt from the blue: the Sino-Japanese naval battle in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Navy was completely annihilated, and the patriotic general Ding Ruchang committed suicide by swallowing opium.
This news made all patriotic students heartbroken, the country is about to fall into danger, how can they live in peace? Before everyone could come to their senses, Li Hongzhang signed the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" with Japan on behalf of the Qing Dynasty, and the clause in which the island of Taiwan was ceded to Japan was even more infuriating.
When Kang Youwei heard the news, he was so angry that he threw a cup in the post house. In order to save the country that was about to be shattered, Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei joined forces and led all the students to write to Emperor Guangxu and demand reform.
This event left a deep impression on Chinese history and became known as the "Book on the Bus". Kang Youwei became famous because of this, and was called "the first person to change the law" by all students.
However, Kang Youwei bet on the wrong treasure. Although Emperor Guangxu was in a high position, he did not have real power.
Emperor Guangxu ascended the throne at the age of four and became a puppet at the age of seventeen, but after thirty-five years of puppet life, he was finally poisoned by arsenic. During his short reign, he once met Kang Youwei and was full of expectations for Kang Youwei's bold reforms.
He had married Cixi's niece in order to be pro-government, and hoped to truly realize his political ambitions. However, he found that Kang Youwei, despite his enthusiasm for reform, was unable to articulate his views clearly.
He wrote to abolish the imperial examination system, but he also suggested that schools be established and recruits should be trained. Although Emperor Guangxu was skeptical of Kang Youwei's reform plan, he still hoped that Kang Youwei would help him achieve his reform goals.
In order to "break into the cause", Kang Youwei pulled Liang Qichao and Tan Si to meet the emperor together. In order to get attention in front of Guangxu, Kang Youwei even played a fold, and pulled Li Hongzhang in the court, claiming that this idea coincided with Li Zhongtang.
Li Hongzhang looked at Kang Youwei with a blanket face, until Emperor Guangxu read Kang Youwei's request to move the capital to Brazil, and felt that this place was vast and sparsely populated and could be re-established, and Li Hongzhang fainted on the spot.
In order to make up for Kang Youwei's mistakes, Liang Qichao and Tan Sitong proposed their own methods, which made Emperor Guangxu see hope. The four of them conspired for more than ten days, and they all felt that the time was ripe, so on June 11, 1896, Emperor Guangxu promulgated the "Edict of Dingguo" and officially began to change the law.
One is a positive Bagu student, the other is an extremely unreliable hypocrite, plus a super rich second generation with a super rich family, and finally pinned his hopes on the little emperor who had no real power and was raised in the boudoir, and this change was doomed to failure.
Cixi is hypocritical and ruthless, although she does not dare to openly violate the ancestral system for Guangxu's "seizure of power", everyone knows that this "old witch" is bent on learning from the Empress Zetian.
Kang Youwei's failure is not the end, although five of the six gentlemen of Wuxu lost their lives, Kang Youwei did not give up his dream of saving the country because of this. With a large amount of possessions, he began a sixteen-year overseas career.
On September 19, 1898, when the news of Cixi's imprisonment of Emperor Guangxu came, Kang Youwei immediately packed his luggage and rushed to Hong Kong by boat with his belongings for refuge. Although Hong Kong can provide him with temporary asylum, Kang knows that Britain will not protect him forever.
So, he decided to flee overseas. Japan is his ideal country because of the distance that he can accept. In order to be able to land in Japan, he bribed the Japanese **, and the Japanese soon received him warmly.
Although Mr. Sun Yat-sen had successfully revolted, all the funds he had no choice but to bring out were taken by the Japanese. In order to save his life, he had to rent a cheap apartment.
In this difficult period, the first candidate that Mr. Sun Yat-sen thought of was Kang Youwei, hoping that he could join the revolutionary army. However, Kang Youwei resolutely refused, claiming that he would always be the emperor's courtier, and that the revolution must rescue Emperor Guangxu.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen understood that it would be difficult for people with different aspirations to work together, so he eventually gave up the invitation. However, this failure inspired Kang Youwei.
He forged a photo of himself and Emperor Guangxu, and claimed that he had received two secret edicts from Emperor Guangxu. He used this as a basis to start his life's life of cheating.
The Chinese in Japan were deceived by Kang Youwei's false statements, blindly supported his royalist activities, and generously donated money to him. However, their hard work was not used in the cause of saving the country and Guangxu, but was swallowed by Kang Youwei.
In order to continue to cheat money, Kang Youwei mingled in the Chinese community, and even met a 19-year-old Japanese girl and married her as his aunt's wife. After almost being deceived in Japan, Kang Youwei took his concubine to Canada.
Feng Junqing, an overseas Chinese in Canada, has long heard of Kang Youwei's reputation, and he is full of admiration for those who dare to carry out changes under the corrupt system, especially Tan Sitong's heroic righteousness.
In order to show his sincerity, Feng Junsheng directly gave Kang Youwei a villa.
Kang Youwei is hypocritical on the surface, but in fact he is selfish. He used his patriotic theory to coax Feng Junqing and defraud him of money. Kang Youwei lived a comfortable life, intoxicated by his self-moved "national salvation feelings".
However, the unfortunate news came, Emperor Guangxu died, the Qing ** was about to die, and his "dream of saving the emperor" was shattered. In order to prevent being driven away by Feng Junqing, Kang Youwei fled to the United States with his beloved concubine.
Although life in the United States is not as comfortable as in Canada, Kang Youwei decided to start a bank in the United States and lend money sharks in order to earn more wealth. In order to establish a positive image, he organized a gathering of overseas Chinese, and his passionate speech won warm applause from the audience, and even got an American girl to show her love, which Kang Youwei gladly accepted.
Kang Youwei's money gradually accumulated, and he even married a blue-eyed wife. However, despite the ease of life in the United States, Kang Youwei was tired of it, and he decided to go on a tour of Europe, hoping to learn and understand the gap between the rich and the poor in Europe.
Kang Youwei declared that only by understanding Europe and understanding the situation in Europe can we better understand our country and make better decisions. However, despite these statements, he began to squander his money with impunity upon his arrival in Europe, which cast doubt on his true intentions.
Kang Youwei had traveled extensively in Europe, where he organized "royalists" in England and a "royalist army" in France, Germany, and Spain. However, these activities did not last long before they came to an end.
In order to make ends meet, Kang Youwei began to perform, claiming that Emperor Guangxu had left a "testament" to attract donations. To prevent being exposed, he fled to Sweden with the money.
Sweden is a peaceful place without worldly pollution. Kang Youwei was 56 years old at the time and already had five wives, but he preached monogamy. This contradictory behavior is thought-provoking and reminds people that "only state officials are allowed to set fires, and people are not allowed to light lamps."
When Kang Youwei came to Sweden, he was deeply moved by the high standard reception of the royal family. He had a soft spot for the scenery of Jiangnan, China, so he sought advice from overseas people to find a beautiful retreat.
The sand dunes of Baden in Sweden are a beautiful town with thousands of mountains, a thousand lakes, and a dreamlike moonlight at night. After living there for more than ten days, Kang Youwei decided to spend a huge amount of money to buy an island in the lake, after all, his wealth was enough for him to squander.
So he spent 1.5 million and bought the island without blinking an eye. In order to live comfortably, he also invited skilled craftsmen to build a Chinese-style garden, and each of the five aunts and wives had a courtyard and enjoyed the treatment of emperors.
Kang Youwei's dream of returning to the countryside was realized, and he often drank tea and read on the island, enjoying his retirement.
I used to think that Tao Yuanming was my ideal appearance, but now it seems that Kang Youwei's "Peach Blossom Spring" can make me feel more comfortable. Although his dream was soon shattered, Kang Youwei returned to his hometown with his family in 1913 after a 16-year absence, and finally ended up in China.
However, when he set foot on Chinese territory again, everything was already a matter of fact. The former trump card "Emperor Guangxu" has died, and the "Empress Dowager Cixi", who once wanted her life, has also passed away, and all that remains is Emperor Xuantong, who is less than six years old in the Forbidden City.
Although Qing ** will definitely not reuse him, no one in China is willing to donate money to him. In order to be able to reap the benefits again, Kang Youwei compromised and ran to Emperor Xuantong to ask for "take-in" him.
During his overseas "study", he had a new view on the country's reforms, but the reality was that the abdication edict had been issued, and it was impossible to go backwards.
Kang Youwei was indignant and wondered how to make it"Emperor"Again mastered the world, but his"Loyal Minister's Dream"Before it was realized, he heard the news of Yuan Shikai's ascension to the throne as emperor, which made him deeply hateful.
This person was saved by Kang Youwei when he betrayed the reformers, and if it hadn't been for his betrayal, the reform might have been successful, and he would have gone down in history. For this reason, Kang Youwei wrote an article strongly urging Yuan Shikai to abdicate and insulting him for stealing the throne of the Son of Heaven.
However, Kang Youwei didn't know that Yuan Shikai was dying at this time, and he died just two months later. Kang Youwei thought this was an opportunity, so he teamed up with Zhang Xun to launch one"Restoration"However, this twelve-day farce was regarded as a joke by the world, which made Kang Youwei, who had never been laughed at, feel very sad, and finally he fled to Shanghai.
Kang Youwei's life has been full of twists and turns, from a man of the hour in the political arena, to a quiet person who refuges in Qingdao, and then to a cynical scolding Feng Yuxiang as a "chaotic minister and thief".
He was bent on saving the country and personally went to Tianjin to persuade Pu Yi to ascend the throne, but in the end he could not change the outcome of Pu Yi being driven out of the Forbidden City. In 1927, Kang Youwei returned to Guangzhou with regrets, and died of food poisoning not long after at the age of 72.
Kang Youwei was forgotten by the world on the small island of Sweden, and the five wives and women could not express Kang Youwei's property situation, and Kang Youwei's children said that they would never return to the "Beihai Grass Hall", and the island was abandoned.
Years later, because of its age, the island was overgrown with weeds. During World War II, Sweden** took back ownership of the island and renamed it "Hotel Island", which is now a place for tourists to check in.
What is surprising is that in Western countries, a national scenic spot with Chinese characteristics has been built.
Kang Youwei's life is full of irony and comedy. He is regarded as the leader of the Wuxu Reform, but in fact, the policy is not original to him, he is just a loyal executor of Liang Qichao and Tan Sitong.
He once advocated a constitutional monarchy, but in practice he repeatedly failed and failed to realize his ambitions in his lifetime. After the failure of the reform, his life fell into chaos, and in the process of fleeing, his behavior was ridiculed by people as marrying a daughter-in-law.
However, if we see his life story as a tragedy, then he may really be a representative of a tragedy who is bent on "protecting the emperor" but does not meet the support of the Lord.
He once wanted to buy an island to live on, but this wish was ultimately not realized. He even died of food poisoning at a banquet. Despite this, Kang Youwei's life is still full of vigorous colors, which is worthy of our deep thought and nostalgia.