Kija is the Korean rendition of a semi legendary man named Qizi (Ch’i Tzu) in Chinese transliteration, who lived in the 12th century b.c.e. and played an important role in advancing civilization in Korea. The Korean peninsula is located in northeastern Asia, adjoining China. The ancestors of the Koreans moved into the peninsula from the Manchurian region of present-day China and belong to the Mongoloid family of peoples, akin to the Chinese and Japanese. The early Koreans lived in tribal units, first by fishing and hunting, gradually developing agriculture. Korean mythology has Tan’gun, the first ruler of Korea, as born of a union between a female bear and the son of the divine creator, in 2333 b.c.e.
Another legend has a prince of China’s first historic dynasty, the Shang (or Yin) dynasty, migrating to Korea c. 1122 b.c.e. with his followers and founding a state, called Choson, with a capital city near modern Pyongyang in northern Korea. The last king of the Shang, reputedly cruel and vicious, listened only to the advice of his evil advisers and his wicked concubine. In despair his kinsman Qizi, or Lord of Qi, decided to leave the Shang realm before its inevitable fall. He led his followers across Manchuria to Korea and founded a dynasty. Korean legends have Kija ruling Korea for 40 years, cite several locations as his grave site, and credit him as the founder of a dynasty that ruled for generations.
Archaeological evidence indicates a gradual flow of cultural influence from northern China into Manchuria and Korea during the first millennium b.c.e. The wars that led to the fall of the Shang and consolidation of the Zhou (Chou) dynasty in China did propel refugees to seek safe new homes, both to the northeast and south of the Yellow River. Coming from the Yellow River, where the most advanced civilization in East Asia had developed, the dispersal of peoples did bring development to regions where they settled.
References:
- Gardiner, K.H.J. The Early History of Korea. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1969;
- Weems, Clarence N. ed. Hulbrert’s History of Korea. Vol. I. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962.
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