What was the main intention of Kang Youwei,Liang Qichao in restoring the past?

Before the Xinhai Revolution, they all enthusiastically preached the Western bourgeois theory of evolution and advocated that China should follow the path of Western modernization. After the Xinhai Revolution, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, among others, re-promoted the value and role of traditional Chinese culture, arguing that the millennium-old Taoism of traditional culture could not be discarded, and that the only way out for Chinese culture was to re-establish the dominant position of traditional culture. They resolutely opposed the idea of Westernization, demanded a return to the way of Confucius and Mencius, advocated the movement of observing Confucius and the chanting of sutras to restore the ancient times, and established the "Church of Confucius" all over the world. "They firmly opposed the idea of Westernization and demanded a return to the Confucian Way. Kang Youwei support respect for Confucianism and restoration is not only not to use the old Chinese culture to fight against the dark rule of the Beiyang Warlords, and not to use the old Chinese culture to seek a new way out of Chinese culture, but to use the old culture to fight against the new culture, and to provide ideological and cultural support for the movement of restoration of the imperial system.

It was Kang Youwei's cooperation with Yuan Shikai, who acted as the spiritual leader of the imperial restoration movement in the early years of the Republic of China, that led to the antagonism between Kang and Liang Qichao, a pair of irreconcilable masters and disciples who went their separate ways. After Liang Qichao realized that Yuan Shikai was using the movement of respecting Confucius and restoring antiquity to carry out the conspiracy of restoring the imperial system and attempting to establish another feudal dynasty, he repented and resolutely launched the movement of protecting the country. After seeing Yuan Shikai's campaign to restore the imperial system and Kang Youwei's performance, Liang Qichao said, not without ridicule, his teacher Kang Youwei has been transformed from a historical giant into a historical dwarf.

Although cultural revivalism has played a role in affirming the role of traditional Chinese culture, it is a metaphysical concept that is totally wrong to stick to traditional dogmas, refuse to abandon traditional culture, and be unwilling to learn from advanced Western culture. In the New Culture Movement, the trend of cultural retrofuturism, was fiercely criticized by the New Culture Movement.