Under, the city became an industrial center, called Heijō ( 平壤 read as へいじょう) in Japanese. It was the provincial capital of South Pyeongan Province beginning in 1896. It was the site of the during the, which led to the destruction and depopulation of much of the city. In 1890, the city had 40,000 inhabitants. Pyongyang became the base of Christian expansion in Korea, and by 1880 it had more than 100 churches and more Protestant missionaries than any other Asian city. While the invasions made Koreans suspicious of foreigners, the influence of began to grow after the country opened itself up to foreigners in the 16th century. Later in the 17th century, it became temporarily occupied during the until peace arrangements were made between Korea and Qing China. During the, Pyongyang was captured by the Japanese until they were defeated in the.
Chinese generals in Pyongyang surrender to Imperial Japanese soldiers during the, October 1894, as depicted in Japanese. It is administered as a ( chikhalsi, 직할시 直轄市) on the same level as provincial governments, as opposed to ( teukbyeolsi, 특별시 特別市) such as. The city was split from the province in 1946. According to the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,288.
Pyongyang is located on the about 109 kilometres (68 mi) upstream from its mouth on the. 'Pyongyang' in (top) and (bottom) Pyeongyang P'yŏngyang 'Flat Soil' Pyongyang, or P'yŏngyang (:,: Korean pronunciation: ), is the and largest city of.
