Early life

Kang was born on 19March 1858 in Su Village, Danzao Town, Nanhai County, Guangdong province (now the Nanhai District of Foshan City). According to his autobiography, his intellectual gifts were recognized in his childhood by his uncle. As a result, from an early age, he was sent by his family to study the Confucian classics to pass the Chinese civil service exams. However, as a teenager, he was dissatisfied with the scholastic system of his time, especially its emphasis on preparing for the eight-legged exams, which were artificial literary exercises required as part of the examinations.

Studying for exams was an extraordinarily rigorous activity so he engaged in Buddhist meditation as a form of relaxation, an unusual leisurely activity for a Chinese scholar of his time. It was during one of these meditations that he had a mystical vision that became the theme for his intellectual pursuits throughout his life. Believing that it was possible to read every book and "become a sage", he embarked on a quasi-messianic pursuit to save humanity.

Biography

Kang called for an end to property and the family in the interest of an idealized future cosmopolitan utopia and cited Confucius as an example of a reformer and not as a reactionary, as many of his contemporaries did. The latter idea was discussed in great detail in his work Kongzi Gaizhi Kao (孔子改制攷), or Study of the Reforms of Confucius. He argued, to bolster his claims that the rediscovered versions of the Confucian classics were forged, as he treated in detail in ''Xinxue weijing kao』』（新学伪经考） (A Study of the Classics Forged during the Xin Dynasty C.E.).

In 1883, Kang founded the Anti-Footbinding Society near Canton.

Kang Youwei launched the Society for the Study of National Strengthening (Qiangxue hui) in Beijing. It is the first political group established by reformists in China. Through it, Kang became acquainted with Governor-General Zhang Zhidong and received his financial support to inaugurate the Paper of the Society for the Study of the National Strengthening (Qiangxue bao) in January 1896. In the same month, the society was dissolved and the paper had to cease publication.

Kang was a strong believer in constitutional monarchy and wanted to remodel the country after Meiji Japan. These ideas angered his colleagues in the scholarly class who regarded him as a heretic.

In 1895, China was defeated by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War. To protest against Treaty of Shimonoseki, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and over 600 civil examination candidates signed a petition to the Guangxu Emperor, known to history as Gongche Shangshu movement. This movement is taken as the sign of the appearance of reformists and the start of Chinese mass political movements.

Kang and his noted student, Liang Qichao, were important participants in a campaign to modernize China now known as the Hundred Days' Reform. The reforms introduced radical change into the Chinese government. Empress Dowager Cixi staged a coup that put an end to the reforms, put the Guangxu Emperor under house arrest, and ordered Kang's arrest and execution on the basis that he had tried to have her assassinated. Kang fled the country but also organized the Protect the Emperor Society which promoted the cause of the Guangxu Emperor, mainly in Chinese diaspora communities, and advocated the removal of Cixi. Kang relied on his principal American military advisor, General Homer Lea to head the military branch of the Protect the Emperor Society. Kang traveled throughout the world to promote his ideas. He competed with the revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen's Revive China Society and Revolutionary Alliance for funds and followers among overseas Chinese.

Kang visited India twice, first in 1901–1903 and then again in October 1909, in part to study India, which he regarded as comparable to China. Although his information about Indian history was derived from English authors, he observed that India's plight as a

colonised country was due to the disunity among the different regions of India.

The Xinhai Revolution led to the abdication of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of a Republic under Sun Yat-sen in 1912.

Some advocated that a Han be installed as Emperor, either the descendant of Confucius, who was the Duke Yansheng, which Kang briefly endorsed before dropping the idea and returning to the idea of a Qing monarch, or the Ming dynasty Imperial family descendant, the Marquis of Extended Grace.

Kang remained an advocate of constitutional monarchy and launched a failed coup d'état in 1917. General Zhang Xun and his queue-wearing soldiers occupied Beijing, declaring a restoration of Emperor Puyi on July1.

The incident was a major miscalculation. The nation was highly anti-monarchist. Kang became suspicious of Zhang's insincere constitutionalism and feared he was merely using the restoration to become the power behind the throne. He abandoned his mission and fled to the American legation. On July 12, Duan Qirui easily occupied the city.

Kang's reputation serves as an important barometer for the political attitudes of his time. In the span of less than twenty years, he went from being regarded as an iconoclastic radical to an anachronistic pariah.

Da Tongshu

Kang's best-known and probably most controversial work is Da Tong shu (大同書). The title of the book derives from the name of a utopian society imagined by Confucius, but it literally means "The Book of Great Unity". The ideas of this book appeared in his lecture notes from 1884. Encouraged by his students, he worked on this book for the next two decades, but it was not until his exile in India that he finished the first draft. The first two chapters of the book were published in Japan in the 1900s, but the book was not published in its entirety until 1935, about seven years after his death.

Kang proposed a utopian future world free of political boundaries and democratically ruled by one central government. In his scheme, the world would be split into rectangular administrative districts, which would be self-governing under a direct democracy but loyal to a central world government. There would also be the dissolution of racial boundaries. Kang outlines an immensely ambitious eugenics program that would eliminate the "brown and black" racial phenotype after a millennia and lead to the emergence of a fair-skinned homogeneous human race whose members would "be the same color, the same appearance, the same size, and the same intelligence".

Tang Poem: Returning Home As An Unrecognized Old Man, Nantoyōsō Collection, Japan

His desire to end the traditional Chinese family structure defines him as an early advocate of women's independence in China.

He reasoned that the institution of the family practiced by society since the beginning of time was a great cause of strife. Kang hoped it would be effectively abolished.

The family would be replaced by state-run institutions, such as womb-teaching institutions, nurseries and schools. Marriage would be replaced by one-year contracts between a woman and a man. Kang considered the contemporary form of marriage, in which a woman was trapped for a lifetime, to be too oppressive. Kang believed in equality between men and women and that there should be no social barrier barring women from doing whatever men can do.

Kang saw capitalism as an inherently evil system. He believed that government should establish socialist institutions to overlook the welfare of each individual. At one point, he even advocated that government should adopt the methods of "communism" although it is debated what Kang meant by this term.

In this spirit, in addition to establishing government nurseries and schools to replace the institution of the family, he also envisioned government-run retirement homes for the elderly. It is debated whether Kang's socialist ideas were inspired more by Western thought or by traditional Confucian ideals.

Lawrence G. Thompsom believes that his socialism was based on traditional Chinese ideals. His work is permeated with the Confucian ideal of ren (仁), or humanity. However, Thompson also noted a reference by Kang to Fourier. Thus, some Chinese scholars believe that Kang's socialist ideals were influenced by Western intellectuals after his exile in 1898.

Notable in Kang's Da Tong Shu were his enthusiasm for and his belief in bettering humanity through technology, unusual for a Confucian scholar during his time. He believed that Western technological progress had a central role in saving humanity. While many scholars of his time continued to maintain the belief that Western technology should be adopted only to defend China against the West, he seemed to whole-heartedly embrace the modern idea that technology is integral for advancing mankind. Before anything of modern scale had been built, he foresaw a global telegraphic and telephone network. He also believed that as a result of technological advances, each individual would only need to work three or four hours per day, a prediction that would be repeated by the most optimistic futurists later in the 20th century.

When the book was first published, it was received with mixed reactions. Kang's support for the Guangxu Emperor was seen as reactionary by many Chinese intellectuals, who believed that Kang's book was an elaborate joke and that he was merely acting as an apologist for the emperor as to how a utopian paradise could have developed if the Qing dynasty had been maintained. Others believe that Kang was a bold and daring protocommunist, who advocated modern Western socialism and communism. Amongst the latter was Mao Zedong, who admired Kang Youwei and his socialist ideals in the Da Tongshu.

Modern Chinese scholars now often take the view that Kang was an important advocate of Chinese socialism. Despite the controversy, Da Tongshu still remains popular. A Beijing publisher included it on the list of 100 most influential books in Chinese history.

Philosophical views

Kang enumerated sources of human suffering in a way similar to that of Buddhism.

The sufferings associated with man's physical life are being implanted in the womb, premature death, loss of a limb, being a barbarian, living outside China, being a slave and being a woman. The sufferings associated with natural disasters are famine resulting from flood or drought, epidemic, conflagration, flood, volcanic eruptions, collapse of buildings, shipwreck and locust plagues. The sufferings associated with the human relationship are being a widow, being orphaned or childless, being ill with no one to provide medical care, suffering poverty and having a low and mean station in life. The sufferings associated with society are corporal punishment and imprisonment, taxation, military conscription, social stratification, oppressive political institutions, the existence of the state and the existence of the family. The human feelings which cause suffering are stupidity, hatred, fatigue, lust, attachment to things and desire. The things that cause suffering because of the esteem in which they are held are wealth, eminent position, longevity, being a ruler and being a spiritual leader. He also imagined a hierarchy of religions, in which Christianity and Islam were the lowest, above them being Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. He predicted that in the future the lower religions would disappear.

Calligraphy

Kang Youwei was an accomplished calligrapher, responsible for the creation of Kang Typeface (Bad Model, Chinese: 破体). He commended tablet calligraphy and depreciated model calligraphy. In his early years, he learned from Ouyang Xun by imitation. In his work Guang yizhoushuangji (广艺舟双楫), he did comprehensive and systematic research and introduction about tablet calligraphy. In Kang』s later years, selling calligraphy became his most reliable source of income.

Kang Youwei Island

After the failure of the Hundred Days』 Reform, Kang Youwei fled China. In 1898, he arrived in Japan via Hong Kong. Kang reached Sweden in 1904 and was deeply attracted to the landscape. He bought an islet off Saltsjöbaden and built a Chinese style garden and building named "Beihai Caotang" (Chinese: 北海草堂). This island is still known as Kang Youwei Island by many Chinese.

Death

Kang died at his home in the city of Qingdao, Shandong in 1927. He was 69.

生平

早年

高祖父康炳堂是嘉慶年間的舉人，曾任廣西布政使。曾祖父是康式鵬（號雲衢），曾任福建按察使，曾祖母梁氏。祖父康贊修（字以乾，號述之）是道光年間的舉人，祖母陳氏。父親康達初（字植謀，號少農）做過江西補用知縣，母為勞氏。

1858年3月19日（咸豐八年戊午年二月初五日），康有為生於廣東省廣州府南海縣江浦司銀塘鄉敦仁里的老屋中。康有為自稱其母懷胎十一個月才生下他。

康有為自幼學習儒家思想，光緒五年（1879年）初次遊歷香港，「觀西人宮室之瑰麗，道路之整潔，巡捕之嚴密，乃始知西人治國有法度，不得以古舊之夷狄視之」，開始接觸西方文化。光緒八年（1882年），康有為到北京參加順天鄉試，沒有考取。南歸時途經上海，購買了大量西方書籍，吸取了西方傳來的演化論和政治觀點，初步形成了維新的思想體系。後經考証，其很多思想來自于其他大名士之著作，並非為康有為原創。

光緒十七年（1891年）後，他在廣州設立萬木草堂，收徒講學，弟子有梁啓超、陳千秋等人。

中年

光緒二十一年（1895年），康有為到北京參加乙未科會試，康有為自稱得知《馬關條約》簽訂，在松筠庵聯合1300多名舉人，上萬言書，即「公車上書」，又未上達。由于光緒帝年紀較輕，且沒有實際從政經驗，康有為依靠其激進且不符合實際的改革觀點于當年5月底第三次上書，這得到光緒帝讚許。但根據不少學者的看法，康有為在進行政治宣傳以及回憶的時候（最明顯如其《康南海自訂年譜》）存在著很多不尊重事實的地方，而且又有很多吹牛造假的現象。

根據許多文獻的證據，如茅海建等不少學者則表示，康有為所謂的組織「公車孝廉連署上書」，事實上是一次自吹自擂的事件，只有八十人參加連署，而非康有為所稱的一千多人。真正成功的上書實由當時的翁同龢、李鴻藻、汪鳴鑾等京城高官發動組織，目的是阻撓《馬關條約》的簽訂。另有研究者認為，當時清政府內部已經趨于求變，即使是保守派的徐桐和榮祿，也曾對變法做過努力。公車上書的時候，18省「公車」絕大多數都沒有參加康組織的簽名，他只徵集到80名廣東人的簽名。而僅僅是另一人陳景華就鼓動了一場280多人簽名的廣東公車上書。

不久，康有為會試中式第五名，用名為康祖詒。殿試之後，位列二甲第四十六名，賜進士出身，用工部主事。7月，他和梁啓超創辦《中外紀聞》，不久又在北京組織強學會。

光緒二十三年（1897年），德國佔領膠澳地區（今屬青島市），康有為再次上書請求變法。次年1月，光緒皇帝下令康有為條陳變法意見，他呈上《應詔統籌全局折》，又進呈所著《日本明治變政考》、《俄羅斯大彼得變政記》二書。4月，他和梁啓超組織保國會，號召救國圖強。6月16日，光緒帝在頤和園勤政殿召見康有為，任命他為總理衙門章京，准其專摺奏事，籌備變法事宜，史稱戊戌變法。

戊戌變法與政變

帝師翁同龢被罷黜後，康有為取代翁同龢成為光緒帝最信任的大臣。戊戌變法之初，在康有為的幕後主持下，光緒帝推動了一系列的改革，後人稱為戊戌變法。後經學者考証，光緒帝收到的每筆奏摺，全文或摘要皆須送慈禧審閱，在清宮檔案中均有詳細紀錄，因此慈禧太后對變法內容完全知情。若慈禧不支持變法，戊戌變法不會維持一百天時間。而事實上，後來被殺的變法派戊戌六君子，楊銳和劉光第是張之洞推薦的，林旭是榮祿推薦的，只有譚嗣同才是康有為的人。但在變法中，光緒帝基本上只聽康有為的意見，而其部分不切實際甚至涉嫌造反的意見引起慈禧的不滿，才會導致最後的政變。

期間，康有為的思想漸趨保守，為自己進入權力核心鋪路。他提出變法核心為「立制度局、新政局」。制度局效仿的是日本明治維新，只負責議政而不涉足具體的行政。中央制度局由皇帝主持，地方則設法律局、稅計局、學校局、農商局、工務局、礦政局、鐵路局、郵政局、造幣局、游曆局、社會局、武備局等「十二專局」，架空現有的軍機處、總理衙門、六部、地方督撫衙門等部門。他也認為中國的國民素質不足以設立議會，應由皇帝專權。

根據雷家聖《失落的真相：晚清戊戌政變史事新探》一書指出：戊戌變法期間，日本前首相伊藤博文至中國訪問。當時英國傳教士李提摩太向變法派領袖康有為建議，要求清朝方面聘請伊藤為顧問，甚至付以事權。按照李提摩太向康有為的建議，是要將中美英日四國建立為一個類似後來蘇聯或獨聯體的政體，藉以對抗俄國。

於是，變法派官員在伊藤抵華後，紛紛上書請求重用伊藤，引起保守派官員的警惕。保守派官員楊崇伊甚至密奏慈禧太后：「風聞東洋故相伊藤博文，將專政柄。伊藤果用，則祖宗所傳之天下，不啻拱手讓人。」這種激烈的言論，促使慈禧太后在9月19日（八月初四）由頤和園回到紫禁城，意欲瞭解光緒皇帝對伊藤有何看法。

在康有為的授意下，變法派官員楊深秀於9月20日（八月初五）上書光緒皇帝：「臣尤伏願我皇上早定大計，固結英、美、日本三國，勿嫌『合邦』之名之不美。」另一變法派官員宋伯魯也於9月21日（八月初六）上書言道：「渠（李提摩太）之來也，擬聯合中國、日本、美國及英國為合邦，共選通達時務、曉暢各國掌故者百人，專理四國兵政稅則及一切外交等事。」儼然欲將中國軍事、財稅、外交的國家大權，交於外人之手。慈禧太后於9月19日（八月初四）返回紫禁城後，於9月20至21日獲知此事，驚覺事態嚴重，才當機立斷發動政變，重新訓政，結束了戊戌變法。

然而，慈禧在9月21日訓政當天頒佈的捉拿康有為的上諭中並未提到康有為賣國，只說：「諭軍機大臣等：工部主事康有為結黨營私，莠言亂政，屢經被人參奏，著革職，並其弟康廣仁，均著步軍統領衙門拿交刑部，按律治罪。」此外，楊深秀和宋伯魯都曾上奏倡議四國合邦，但慈禧在戊戌政變之後定他們的罪中都未提到他們這條罪名；宋伯魯的罪名是「濫保匪人」、「聲名惡劣」，楊深秀的罪名是與康有為結黨。雷家聖指出這是因為慈禧當時還不知道英、美、日等國的參與程度，如果貿然指責英、美、日等國，外交糾紛更難收拾，故只能以含混之罪名帶過。

變法失敗後，維新派人士人人自危，李鴻章甚至不顧危險在慈禧面前稱自己是「康黨」；意在將推行「合邦」計畫者，與一般維新派人士做出區隔，希望保持部分維新的成果，但慈禧太后困於廢立光緒帝的問題，新政無法推行，再加上慈禧不滿各國公使反對廢光緒帝，使慈禧一改過往支持變革與新政的態度，走向保守。

逃亡國外

9月20日早上，康有為離開南海會館，直奔馬家堡火車站，乘火車逃至天津，又得李提摩太牧師協助，坐上重慶號經煙臺到上海。上海道台蔡鈞接到朝廷命令，正在通緝康有為。此時英國介入，英國領事館職員濮蘭德協助康有為在上海海面轉英輪「琶理瑞號」到香港，再由香港逃往加拿大，自稱持有皇帝的衣帶詔，在光緒二十五年六月十三日（1899年7月20日）在英屬哥倫比亞省組織保皇會，又名中國維新會，鼓吹君主立憲，反對革命，在北美、東南亞、香港、日本等地設立分會，機關報為澳門《知新報》和橫濱《清議報》。

1900年，康有為曾參與自立軍起義。1902年的冬天，康有為在英屬哥倫比亞省維多利亞，與保皇黨的人員商議，決定成立一個能投資獲取收益的保皇黨黨營事業。為籌集公司的啟動資金，康有為親自到世界各地華人聚居的地方遊說。1904年在瑞典斯德哥爾摩近郊的薩爾特舍巴登購買小島，在此定居到1907年。

1906年，清政府宣布實行預備立憲，康有為遂宣告保皇會任務完成。同年，康有為到達了墨西哥。1907年，保皇會改組為帝國憲政會。

民國以後

辛亥革命後，康有為於1913年回國，定居上海辛家花園，主編《不忍》雜誌，宣揚尊孔複闢。作為保皇黨領袖，他反對共和制，一直謀劃清廢帝溥儀復位。1917年6月28日康有為從天津秘密進京，與效忠前清的北洋軍閥張勳發動複闢，擁立溥儀登基，不久即在當時北洋政府總理段祺瑞的討伐下宣告失敗。

1921年遷居愚園路「游存廬」，1923年遷居青島（見青島康有為故居）。康有為晚年始終宣稱忠于清朝皇帝，1924年溥儀被馮玉祥逐出紫禁城後，他曾親往天津，到溥儀居住的張園覲見探望。

逝世與掘墓

1927年3月18日康有為因躲避北伐戰亂，從上海抵達青島。3月29日參加同鄉宴，宴後嘔吐，31日凌晨5時30分七竅流血猝死。關于其死因，其女康同壁生前堅持「被人在食物中投毒而導致死亡」；康同壁之女羅儀鳳文革中所寫的一份交待材料稱康氏「是被國民黨下毒害死的」。康有為另一位女兒康同環則認為「可能是英記酒樓的食品不潔所致，未必是因為政治鬥爭而犧牲的。」康氏弟子呂振文臨終對其子披露，因康氏不同意溥儀「跟著日本人走」，故而遇害。此外還有慈禧餘黨暗害說，「割睾易腺」致死說，以及因想鏟除尊崇儒學知識份子的國民黨共濟會成員所毒殺說。。

康有為逝世後葬于青島。辭世後遺體曾暫厝李村棗兒山，1948年正式安葬於青島，翌年10月舉行康有為遷葬和墓碑揭幕儀式。

文革期間，康曾被視為「中國歷史上最大的保皇派」，1966年8月，其墓地被紅衛兵掘開，尸骨被造反派掘墓鞭尸，並把其帶有白髮之顱骨遊街示眾，後來康有為的顱骨被市博物館王集欽研究員以「造反有理」實物展覽為名收入館中藏匿，才使得今日康有為墓中有康氏的一點尸骨。

1985年12月27日再遷墓至嶗山區中韓鎮大麥島村北浮山南麓的現址（現青島大學之北）並立碑，今為山東省文物保護單位。

長興里十大弟子

梁啓超、麥孟華、陳千秋、韓文舉、梁朝傑、曹泰、徐勤、王覺任、林奎、陳和澤

思想

康有為的理想和政治主張主要在他撰寫的《大同書》中得到體現。

近年對于康有為的歷史地位存在著較大爭議。由于維新變法（即戊戌變法）後各派人士的自述常常出于政治宣傳目的而頗多不實，使得這一歷史時期的研究存在很大困難。

爭議

種族主義

康有為在他的《大同書》中把世界人種按優劣分為白黃棕黑四種。康認為，要實現大同，首先要人種大同。應該讓黃種人和白種人通婚，使黃種人逐漸變成白種人。棕色人種生性愚昧，與黑人接近，需要先和黃種人通婚變黃種人，再變白人。要設立獎賞制度，獎賞願意和棕色人種通婚的白黃種人。至于黑種人，至蠢極愚，很難改良。應該重賞願意和黑人通婚的白黃種人，對于一些性情太惡、狀貌太惡或有疾病的應以藥絕其種。

佚事

民間傳聞，康有為流亡時曾經鑄造九龍紋的龍銀紀念銀幣，向華僑募款，說是光緒帝的託付。

著作

以下著作因其中有些寫作時間尚在爭議，故一律不注時間，只列主要著作名稱。單篇文章除重要者外一律不列。

• 教學通義

• 民功篇

• 康子內外篇

• 毛詩禮征

• 實理公法全書

• 長興學記

• 新學偽經考

• 廣藝舟雙輯（又名《書鏡》）

• 桂學答問

• 南海康先生口說（又名《萬木草堂口說》）

• 春秋董氏學

• 俄羅斯大彼得變政記

• 孔子改制考

• 日本書目志

• 日本變政考

• 列國政要比較表

• 波蘭分滅記

• 春秋筆削大義微言考

• 康南海官制議

• 歐洲十一國遊記

• 物質救國論

• 金主幣救國論

• 中華救國論

• 理財救國論

• 南海先生詩集

• 萬木草堂藏畫目

• 共和平議

• 大同書

• 康南海諸天講（又名《諸天書》、《天游廬講學記》）

• 戊戌奏稿

• 孟子微

• 禮運注

• 中庸注

• 論語注

• 我史（即《康南海自編年譜》）

• 電通

全集

• 萬木草堂叢書

• 演孔叢書

• 康有為詩文選

• 湯志鈞選編，康有為政論集

• 蔣貴麟編，康南海先生遺著匯刊，台北：宏業書局，1976年

• 蔣貴麟編，萬木草堂遺稿，臺北：成文出版社，1978年

• 蔣貴麟編，萬木堂遺稿外編，臺北：成文出版社，1978年

• 蔣貴麟編，萬木草堂遺稿外編續編，臺北：成文出版社，1983年

• 樓宇烈編，康有為學術著作選，北京：中華書局

• 康有為全集，上海：上海古籍出版社，1987年

• 康有為全集，北京：中國人民大學出版社，2007年

家庭

康有為有六房妻妾和十五個子女。

• 大房，張雲珠（1855年－1922年），字「妙華」。

　• 第一女，同薇（1879年－1974年），字「文僩」，號「薇君」。

　• 第二女，同璧（1881年－1969年），字「文佩」，號「華鬘」。

　• 第三女，同結（1884年－1884年），數日殤。

　• 第四女，同完（1885年－1885年），數月殤。

　• 第一子，同國（1890年－？），殤。

　• 第五女，同荷，養女，康有溥之女。

• 二房，梁隨覺（1880年－1969年）

　• 第二子，同吉（1902年－1902年），生於印度，未滿月殤。

　• 第六女，同復（1903年－1979年），生於澳門。

　• 第七女，同環（1906年－？），生於瑞典。

　• 第三子，同籛（1908年－1961年）

• 三房，何旃理（1891年－1915年），字「金蘭」。

　• 第四子，同凝（1909年－1978年）

　• 第八女，同琰（1911年－1928年），18歲時死於車禍。

• 四房，市岡鶴子（？－1927年），暱稱「鶴姬」，日本人，和三房何旃理情同姐妹。在康有為猝死後自殺。

　• 女（未排行），凌子（1925年－？），生於日本，在市岡鶴子自殺後則隱姓埋名不知所終。

• 五房，廖定征

　• 第九女，同令（1915年－1927年），12歲時死於肺炎。

• 六房，張光（1900年－1943年），小名「阿翠」。

　• 第十女，靜谷（1927年－2012年），養女，張光兄弟之女。

後代

澳大利亞籍羽毛球運動員格羅婭·薩莫維爾是康有為的曾孫女，中文名康榮雅。在2012年優霸盃舉辦期間曾向媒體自稱是康有為的後人，她的父親在六歲時跟隨家人從廣州移民至澳大利亞，並在澳大利亞娶妻生女，但是她並未透漏其父名諱。父親在她很小的時候就去世了，她只能從歷史書和媽媽的講述中了解到自己身世背景。

影視形象

康有為曾多次出現在描寫清末歷史的電影和電視劇中，其中比較著名的有：

• 1948年，香港永華影業公司製作，朱石麟導演拍攝的黑白電影《清宮秘史》由演員徐立飾演康有為。

• 1995年，香港TVB電視台製播的電視劇《南拳北腿》，由香港演員王偉飾演康有為。

• 1998年，北京電視台製播，許同均導演的電視劇《戊戌風雲》，由中國演員修宗迪飾演康有為。

• 2003年，中國中央電視台製播，張黎導演的電視劇《走向共和》，由中國演員孫寧飾演康有為。

• 2004年，中國廣東電視台製播，張中一、楊放導演的電視劇《風流才子翻轉天》（又名《少年康有為》、《衝天小子康南海》），由中國演員鄧超飾演康有為。

• 2010年，香港導演陳耀成拍攝的紀錄片《大同：康有為在瑞典》，片中夾雜了舞台劇片段以描寫康有為，由香港演員廖啟智飾演康有為。

• 2011年，由中國導演韓三平、黃建新拍攝，慶祝中國共產黨建黨九十周年而製作的獻禮影片《建黨偉業》，由劉勁飾演康有為。

註解