Early life

Kang Hai was born in Wugong County, Shaanxi. His great-great-grandfather Kang Ruji (康汝楫) served the Yongle Emperor in his household and was appointed a vice minister in his government in 1403. Kang Hai's father, Kang Yong (康鏞), was assistant registrar of Pingliang prefecture. His family was therefore affluent and of good social position.

Kang Hai did exceedingly well in the imperial examinations. The emperor himself remarked that there had been no better examination essay during the last century-and-a-half of Ming rule. Kang Hai therefore became the Zhuangyuan (optimus) of China for 1502, as the highest scoring of all graduates.

Imperial career

Kang's first appointment was as a first-class compiler at the Hanlin Academy. There that he interacted with influential persons, earning friends and some enemies for his outspoken opposition to corruption and his literary style. In 1508 when the powerful eunuch Liu Jin was manipulating the young Zhengde Emperor, Kang Hai joined forces with other scholars in opposing him. Kang advocated for the release of his friend Li Mengyang from prison for also opposing the Liu.

Later in 1508, Kang's mother died and Kang retired. When Liu Jin fell from imperial favor in 1510, Kang also lost status, supposedly for collaborating with Liu's government.

Life in Shaanxi

For the next thirty years, Kang "acted the part of a non-conformist hermit" with his friend Wang Jiusi, fearing being called back to office. The friends loved to drink wine, play the pipa, be noisy and act "like fools in order to give expression to their grievances". Kang rejected the rigidity of official life in order to live his own way.

Death and legacy

Kang Hai died in 1541, at the age of 65. A posthumous collection of his writings was published four years later. Several other published works of his are known, including song poems, a local history, a genealogy, and two dramas.

生平

成化十一年（1475年）六月二十日出生，自幼慧敏，以馮寅為師，弘治七年（1494年）入縣學。弘治十一年（1498年）陝西鄉試第七名。弘治十五年（1502年）壬戌科中式一甲第一名進士（狀元），歷任翰林院修撰、經筵講官。宦官劉瑾亂政，愛慕同鄉康海之才，意欲網羅，康海不肯。李夢陽下獄，寫紙條向康海求救。康海於是拜謁劉瑾，劉瑾大喜，為倒屣迎。康海藉機為李夢陽求情，夢陽得釋。正德五年（1510年）八月，劉瑾事敗，康海反被李夢陽歸為劉瑾黨，罷黜為民。此後，康海寓居揚州，置女樂，自操琵琶創家樂班子，人稱「康家班社」，「主盟藝苑，垂四十年」，為秦腔之霸主。康山以此得名。因譴責李夢陽寫成雜劇《中山狼》。

文學

康海是明朝知名文學家，又曾編纂《武功縣誌》，史載「鄉國之史，莫良于此。」因為文學理念相近，加上同時尊崇復古文風，與李夢陽等人並列為前七子之一，又與李夢陽、何景明、徐禎卿、邊貢、朱應登、顧璘、陳沂、鄭善夫、王九思等號稱「十才子」。

佚事

《四友齋叢說》載康海以狀元登第，在翰林院中頗負盛名。因丁憂回鄉，按慣例應請內閣諸公作墓誌銘。時李夢陽秉海內文柄，康海卻僅僅請其書寫墓碑，由同官王九思、段炅作墓誌與傳。李夢陽大為不滿。此後劉瑾逆案發，康海因此遂落籍。

家族

曾祖康爵，南京太常寺少卿；祖父康健，通政司知事；父康鏞，平陽府知事。母張氏。