This is an intellectual biography of Kang Youwei， the author thinks Kang's intellectual developments may be divided into three periods. (1) Initial inquiry and formation of enlightment thought system. (2) Expressing his views on the political and cultural reform in the terms of New Text School to late Ching society. (3) Systematic expounding ideal of cosmopolitanism and the Confucian Religion.
The year 1886 is crucial for the first period.Before this time， studying under Zhu Jiujiang and thereby having had sound basis for classical Chinese 1earning， Kang was influenced by the style of study taking in both Han and Song learning， so he was tolerant towards different schools of traditional learning；on the other hand， Kang was influened by western learning. Depending on limited translations， Kang was the one who could understand rather comprehensively modern western thoughts among his contemporaries. On the basis of this， he wrote "Min Gong Pian" (民功篇)， "Nei Wai Pian" (内外篇)， "Jiao Xue Tong Yi" (教学通义)， "Shi Li Gong Fa Quan Shu" (实理公法全书) and etc， which systematically expounded his modern enlightment thought.
The second period began at 1890， and ended with 1898. His meeting with Liao Ping in Guangzhou in 1890 gave a stimulus to Kang's another transformation of learning. Kang had tried to express his enlightment thought in various ways， even took the form of writing books on China's democracy with syllogistic method and axiomatic system. Maybe he had forseen that such forms could not be tolerated by public opinions. So he did not put these books into print. Meeting with Liao who esteemed the New Text School brought inspirations to Kang， who thought categories of the New Text School such as "Three Traditions" (三统)， "Three worlds" (三世)， "Inside and Outside" (内外) might well be transformed into suitable form for his own thoughts， thereby they may be accepted by the public. According to the ideas mentioned above， Kang wrote "Xin Xue Wei Jing Kao" (新学伪经考)， "Kong Zi Gai Zhi Kao" (孔子改制考)， "Chun Qiu Dong Shi Xue" (春秋董氏学) and so on. The traditional form of these books expressed his modern thoughts quite well. His views on construction of democratic institution set up a valuable example for the modernization of traditional learning.
The third period began at 1898 when the reform movement failed. During the days abroad， he consumated his own views through self-reflection and debating with the revolutionaries. Kang got an comprehensive recognition of western societies when travelling in Europe and America. During this period his works focus on two points. One is expounding detailly his ideal of cosmopolitanism. Although he had mentioned this idea many times before， not until he was in exile overseas when he had enough time to make a systematic research on the subject. The Book of Cosmopolitanism (大同书) is the first book written by Chinese to express traditional idea of cosmopolitanism. The utopia world in the book revealed passionate inclination for material progress and expressed the hope of Chinese people who lived in a undeveloped country for the developed modern society. The other is systematization of Confucian Religion. His knowledge of the west is enough for him to discern different kinds of developed countries in the west. Opposing the combination of radical ideology with political violence in the French revolution， he admired the role of modern christianity which had taken part in social progress. He set forth systematically the view of setting up Confucian Religion and put it into practice. He had forseen that political and cultural violence could not bring China substantial progress. However， in the eyes of ardent intellectuals of young generation， Kang who was under the guise of traditional form seemed nothing but a reactionary. Kang looked as if a prophet， whose ideal of cosmopolitanism was far beyond his time because of his utopia and his view on Confucian Religion transcended the popular opinion of his time because of its astute insight. With many coot misinterpretations， he passed away.
