Philosophical Hermeneutics and Political Reform: A Study of Kang Youwei’s Use of Gongyang Confucianism

This chapter explains under what circumstances Kang became a New-texter, in particular subscribing to the Gongyang doctrine. It shows why his interpretation of Confucianism and sweeping denunciations of the well-established Old Script Confucian canon resulted in a virtual intellectual revolution. Modem scholars have often dubbed Kang Youwei the last great New Script Confucian scholar in the history of Confucianism. By attributing China&s;s stagnation to the time-honored Old Script Confucianism forged by Liu Xin, Kang found it necessary to revive Confucius&s; true spirit by means of promoting Gongyang Confucianism. Kang&s;s bold hermeneutic exercise was no doubt prejudiced, and it was conditioned by the priority he gave to reform. Kang&s;s provocative hermeneutics produced a stiffening of conservative resolve during the reform movement. On the ideological side, the conversion of Confucius into a reformer simply generated too much controversy to make anything easier for Kang, a far cry from a successful creation of reformist ideology in the name of Confucius.