KANEKO, lca'na-ko (ViscouNT) Kentaro, Japanese statesman: b. Fuknoka, 1853.He came of an old Samurai family, and received foreign education in the United States, being graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1878. He began his career as a professor in the school that was the forerunner of the Tokio Imperial University. In 1885 he becameprivate secretary to Prince Ito, then Premier of Japan; was sent abroad for the purpose of investigat ing constitutional systems; served as president of the Privy Council (1888-90), and chief secre tary of the House of Peers, 1890. Two years later, he was a delegate to the International Law Conference in Switzerland. He was vice minister for agriculture and commerce in 1894; minister of the same department in 1898, and in 1900 Minister of Justice. During the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) he was non official representative of his government in this country, and a powerful factor in effecting the peace negotiations at Portsmouth. In 1890 Kaneko was made baron, after war, was created viscount, and appointed Privy Coun cillor.
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the sec ond emperor of the Ta Tsing dynasty estab lished in China by the Manchu Tartars: b. 1655; d. 1722. He began to reign in 1661, under a regency and assumed the reigns of government in 1669, when only 14 years of age. When he was 19 he xras forced to face a rebellion of the Chinese under Wu San-Kuei, which spread throughout the whole vast empire. But K'ang Hi struggled against many very great difficulties and was finally successful in restoring the country to order and in even extending his au thority to Khokand, Badakhshan and Thibet. He proceeded to consonclate his power by in creasing the number of provinces to 18 and ex tending his dominion most intimately over each of them. The Jesuits, who were welcomed by him, contributed to his victories by supplying him with the most modern cannon and arms then in use in Europe, and to the scientific glories of his court by the reformation of the calendar (1669), the taking of a complete census and the surveying of the whole empire. Under these and other influences K'ang-Hi became a great and consistent patron of art and litera ture. In this field his energies, very active at court, extended to other literary centres of the empire. So strong became the influence of the Jesuits that Christianity was officially rec ognized in 1692. A break, however, occurred with Rome in 1698, when the Pope decided against ancestor worship to which the emperor clung tenaciously as a vital part not only of his religious faith but also of his family creed. The breech between the emperor and Rome continued to widen until finally the former is sued an edict banishing from the country all the Christian missionaries who dared to differ from his own expressed opinion on these or other matters. Among the literary activities patronized by K'ang-Hi and supervised by him were the great Imperial Dictionary of Chinese; a concordance to all Chinese literature ((Pei Wen-Yun-Foo') in 110 large volumes; two great encyclopaedias, the largest of which (the
taking movable copper type was used. These, though the most notable, were only a few of his many art and literary activities. He encour aged commerce with foreigners and granted permission to the East India Company to es tablish an agency in China (1677). Consult Giles,
and the Manchus' (Cambridge 1912) ; Remusat, 'Nouvelles Melanges asiatique' (Paris 1829).
king'wi', or (Japanese at the river mouth), an island situ ated at the mouth of the Han River, Korea. From a military point of view it is held to be of great importance, guarding as it does the waterway to Seoul, the capital. Modern war fare methods have rendered it of much less military value than it possessed in the past when it formed the one great fortified place i of refuge of the court in times of extreme danger due to the many invasions suffered by the country. During the independence of Korea it formed the place of deposit (in duplicate) of the archives of the government, which were kept in a strongly fortified Budd hist monastery and guarded by clerical militia. So strong was this place that the French, who had captured K'ang-wa, under Admiral Rose, were unable to take the island by storm and suffered a severe defeat and great loss though it was defended by only 5,000 Koreans. Five years later, however, the American Admiral ohn Rodgers, whose survey boats of the nited States squadron then in Korean waters, had been fired upon, landed a force commanded by Winfield Scott Schley and captured all five of the forts. In September 1875, the Japanese, under similar conditions, stormed the place and dictated a treaty of peace. Naturally, being so intimately connected with the life of the court and the nation, K'ang-Wa and the immediate neighborhood are rich in historical and other monuments. Consult Griffis, W. E., 'Corea, the Hermit Nation' (New York 1911) ; Ham ilton, (Korea) (New York 1907).
king' yoii'wi', Chinese scholar and reformer: b. Canton, 1858. Com ing under the influence of the missionaries he became greatly interested in western civilization which he studied deeply. This led him to be come the leader of the Reform party in China, His influence spread to all the provinces where it was especially strong in the schools of higher learning. This brought him to the attention of the court and he became the chief adviser of the emperor and the very spirit of the re form movement of 1898, the failure of which forced K'ang into exile. Wandering about from Hongkong, to Singapore and other places in the east he organized the 'Tao Huang Hweia or Empire Reform Society, the object of which was to modernize China. It was ex tended to England, America and wherever Chinese were in strength, and played a very con siderable part in the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the republic (1911). K'ang Yu-Wei and his associates had a power ful influence in Republican China, especially in 1913. Among his published works are a Commentary on the Chinese Classics,' and (Modem Japan.'