Che Kim

Che Kim (also written Che Quim) is the fictional protagonist in the 19th century Ardispherian epic poem, El vaquero de Gojangú (The Cowboy from Gohanguk), written by Isolde Pio. It was first published in 1837, but was mostly written several decades earlier around the first decade of the 19th century, when Pio lived in the interior.

The long poem tells the story of a teenage Gohangukian immigrant, Che Quim ("Quim" is a 19th century Castellanese spelling of the common Gohangukian surname Kim), down on his luck in the dockyards of Puerto Nuevo (now Villa Constitución) who meets a cowboy from the interior named Persiles Lacio. Lacio takes the young man under his wing and puts him to work on a large rancho in the Costa de Dragones in an unspecified location (probably based on the area around modern Soledad in Departamento Occidental), where the young Quim becomes a skilled marksman, horseman and tracker.

The poem is considered the foundational and prototypical work of the costense genre of poems and songs, which were sung by the cowboys and tradesmen of the Ardispherian interior in the late colonial and early federation period. The characters of Che Quim and Persiles Lacio have become the prototypical Ardispherians, cowboys who battled aborigines and pirates across the variegated landscape of the country, from the western desert to the high mountains of the Sierra de los Cientoocho, from the northern savannah to the rocky southern coast. Yet despite the superficial and sometimes violent plot, the poem also enters into complex existential themes and exhibits unexpected Gautamic symbolism.

Many Ardispherians will refer to Che Kim as a real historical personage, and because they memorize the first stanzas of the poem in school it is not uncommon to hear the lines recited in public whenever people are feeling patriotic or nostalgic.

 Como estamos descansando
 quisiera en este canzó
 contarles lo que pasó
 allá en el llano a un vaquero,
 nombre de Che Quim el fiero,
 p'acá de Gojangú andó.

In modern Ardispherian culture, the figure of Che Kim is halfway between national hero and national mascot, and both the name as well as references to the story of his life are ubiquitous. A 2006 poll showed Che Kim to be the most popular "historical figure" in the Ardisphere, despite his being fictional.

Several modern adaptations of the story and characters have been produced, including a long-running, episodic, cartoon version for children (which has him anachronistically battling several 18th-century villains, including the bandit leader Justo Espantoso and the pirate/military governor Reina McQueen). An epic live-action cinema adaptation was produced in 1977, starring the youthful Rodolfo O in his first major acting role. Unfortunately, it was a box-office flop due to poor publicity and a public misperception that it was a revisionist history.