Kang Youwei 1858 – 1927
Kang Youwei (1858 – 1927) was a Chinese philosopher of the Modern era, associated with Confucianism and Political Philosophy.
Kang Youwei was a late-Qing Chinese scholar, reformer, and political philosopher who reimagined Confucianism as a modern civil religion and engine of political transformation. His Confucius as a Reformer cast Confucius in the image of a constitutional reformer rather than a transmitter of antiquity, providing the doctrinal basis for the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898 in which Kang served as the Guangxu Emperor's chief intellectual advisor. His utopian Book of the Great Unity (Datong Shu) projected a future age in which the boundaries of nation, family, and class would dissolve into a common humanity, and remained influential on later Chinese thinkers from Liang Qichao to Mao Zedong.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Chinese
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Confucianism, Political Philosophy
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Kang Youwei:
“Confucius was a reformer, not merely a transmitter.”
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Attributed to Kang Youwei:
“All sufferings of humanity arise from the boundaries we draw between states, between classes, between the sexes.”
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Attributed to Kang Youwei:
“The age of Great Unity is no dream; it is the destination toward which history moves.”
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Attributed to Kang Youwei:
“To preserve the Way, we must reform its forms.”
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Attributed to Kang Youwei:
“A nation that cannot change cannot endure.”
Frequently asked about Kang Youwei
- When did Kang Youwei live?
- Kang Youwei was born in 1858 and died in 1927.
- Where was Kang Youwei from?
- Kang Youwei was a Chinese philosopher of the Modern era.
- What philosophical movements is Kang Youwei associated with?
- Kang Youwei was associated with Confucianism and Political Philosophy.
- What was Kang Youwei known for?
- Kang Youwei was a late-Qing Chinese scholar, reformer, and political philosopher who reimagined Confucianism as a modern civil religion and engine of political transformation.
- How many quotes are attributed to Kang Youwei?
- There are 5 attributed quotations from Kang Youwei in the 1001Philosophers collection, organized by topic.