New Exegesis and Reconstruction: the Characteristics and Significance of Kang Youwei’s “Neo-confucian Classics”

Kang Youwei believed that western concepts of democracy, freedom, equality and fraternity had existed in China since ancient times. But Xun Xue’s clumsiness and Liu Xin’s pseudo-error failed to make it continue. Therefore, in his entire interpretation of Confucian classics, he tried to combine western democratic thoughts with Confucianism as much as possible, trying to introduce western political thought into the Confucian text. Kang Youwei’s practice of “transplanting flowers and connecting trees” has undoubtedly covered the western political theory with a layer of Confucianism. However, it must be cleared that Kang Youwei did not want to “westernize Confucianism”, but “Confucianism turns western learning”. Although this “Confucianism” interpretation has caused many far-fetched mistakes, it is not only helpful to release the researcher’s main spirit, but also encompass a wider world of meaning beyond the text.