ABSTRACT
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 stagnation to the time-honored Old Script Confucianism forged by Liu Xin, Kang found it necessary to revive Confucius' true spirit by means of promoting Gongyang Confucianism. Kang's bold hermeneutic exercise was no doubt prejudiced, and it was conditioned by the priority he gave to reform. Kang'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.
