Pyongyang - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

Geography and localization

The city extends between 39°02 and 39°0333 of Northern latitude, 125°45 and 125°75 of longitude Is.

Located in a plain, on the river Taedong and at the junction point with the rivers Pothong, Japzang and Sunhwa, Pyongyang is bordered of mountains in the North-East, where are worked coal and gold mines.

History

According to the legend, the city would have been founded into 2334 before J-C. under the name of Wanggŏmsŏng (왕검성; 王儉城).

Neolithic era with the kingdom of Silla

The update of approximately 500 tombs in the area of Pyongyang attests of a human settlement there is 5 000 years. A small town developed in the south of the island Yanggak it there nearly two thousand years, under the dynasty Koguryŏ, of which it becomes the capital in 427. In the context of the confrontations between the dynasties Tang and Silla on the one hand, Koguryŏ on the other hand (leading to the fall of this dynasty into 668), the city at summer invested by the forces of the kingdom of Silla into 676.

Koryŏ

As from the 10th century, the city is affirmed again like one of the two principal centers of the dynasty Koryŏ with the town of Kaesong. In 1135, the city is the center of the Myochong revolt, of Buddhist inspiration.

Under the Koryŏ dynasty, the city was renamed " Sŏgyŏng" (서경; 西京; “Capital Western”).

Joseon dynasty and Japanese occupation

Pyongyang was the seat of violent one confrontations between the Japanese Koreans and invaders in 1592-1593. The population strongly suffered from the Sino-Japanese conflict of 1894, and an cholera epidemic has affected its inhabitants in 1895.

Pyongyang was the capital of the province of P' yŏngan under the dynasty of Joseon, before devnir the chief town of the province of the South P' yŏngan in 1896, the day before the Japanese occupation.

Doctor Philip Jahison observed, in 1939, that the city had developed little under the Japanese occupation of Korea since 1905.

Since 1945

In 1945, after the Japanese capitulation, Pyongyang was the main city of the Northern part of Korea where the Soviet troops are remained until 1948. Pyongyang thus became the provisional capital of the democratic Popular republic of Korea founded in 1948.

The city was severely damaged during the Guerre of Korea, occupied and having been bombarded by the troops of Nation-Plain under American command. Some buildings, like the Moranbong theater, are the rare witnesses of the face of Pyongyang before 1950. After the war, the city was quickly rebuilt, with the assistance in particular of the Soviets: the Soviet architectural style inspired the broad avenues of Pyongyang.

The capital shelters many sites and revolutionary monuments dedicated to the leaders, in particular the tower of the Juche, the Musée of the war of Korea, the Triumphal arch of Kim It-sung. The Place Kim It-sung can accommodate a million people and the stage of the May-day has a capacity of 150 000 spectators. The silhouette of the Hotel Ryugyong, unfinished, dominates the city.

Several historical names

One of the many historical names of the city east Ryugyŏng (류경; the 柳京), literally the “capital of the willows”. Indeed, the willows were always numerous in the history of the city and inspired by many poetic accounts. Today still, Pyongyang counts many willows. The broad avenues of Pyongyang separate thus from many parks, in a city which counts nearly 50 m ² of green areas per capita.

The other historical names of the city include Kisŏng, Hwangsŏng, Rangrang, Sŏgyŏng, Sŏdo, Hogyŏng, Changan, etc

Under the Japanese occupation, Pyongyang was famous Heijō, which is simply the Japanese reading of the name (平壌) in Chinese characters.

Economy

Pyongyang is one of principal the pole economic of the North Korea. Heavy industries, in particular chemical and iron and steel, settled in the suburbs. Pyongyang also shelters industries of consumer goods (in particular the Usine of cosmetics of Pyongyang and factories textile), as well as the architectural Research institute Paektusan.

In the field of new technologies, the data-processing Research center of Korea has its seat in the capital North-Korean.

Sports and culture

Culture

Located in the capital, the Cirque of Pyongyang is most known in North Korea and has an international reputation.

In addition, the capital North-Korean accommodates every two years the International festival of film of Pyongyang.

Sports

The fortieth birthday of the foundation of the International federation of Taekwondo, which gathers more than 120 national associations in the world, was celebrated in 2006 with Pyongyang, in presence in particular of American and South Korean delegations.

Pyongyang is one of the twenty international cities on the way of the Olympic flame for the Olympic Games of Beijing of 2008.

The capital North-Korean accommodates spectacles of overall movements, called in English Mass Ranges , approximately every two years, at the time of the principal birthdays of the democratic Popular republic of Korea. The celebrations gather tens of thousands of gymnastes.

Transport

Pyongyang is the principal road and railway center of the North Korea, as well as the first national and international airport of the country.

Inaugurated in 1973, the Subway of Pyongyang account seventeen stations. It is hidden 90 meters under ground, thus being able to become a possible antinuclear shelter.

References and notes

References

Robert Willoughby, North Korea. The Bradt Travel Guides , Bradt editions, London, 2003, pp. 95-133 (pourt history of Pyongyang, in particular to see pages 98 to 101).
documentary the Young ladies of Pyongyang (Daniel Gordon) (see a presentation of film by the International Herald Platform )
Pyongyang of Guy Delisle (Cartoon)

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