Kija

▪ legendary king of Korea

      legendary Korean king of Chinese origin whose arrival in Korea with 5,000 rice- and barley-bearing refugees reputedly introduced Chinese civilization (and these new grains) to the Korean people. The band allegedly had fled China in 1111 BC, refusing to serve the new Chou-dynasty (Zhou dynasty) ruler who had overthrown Kija's Shang-dynasty relatives. Historical evidence confirms early Chinese influence on Korean culture, but scholars generally prefer a date corresponding to the establishment of four Chinese colonies in northwestern Korea in the 2nd century BC.

      Many traditions credit Kija with certain cultural innovations, such as a code of law that punished murderers with a death like that which they inflicted on their victims. That Kija also brought with him the art of writing retains a certain credibility inasmuch as writing was already well developed in his native China. Other legends associate Kija's name with sorcery and the fashioning of Korea's flat-topped, wide-brimmed national hat (kat).

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