American Pyongyang: The American Christian Community of the North Korean Capital, 1895-1942

The book presents a photographic history of a lost American community in Asia of whose existence few have been aware: the Christian mission of Pyongyang, which from 1895 to 1942 was the center of one of the leading Christian communities on the mainland of Asia. Pyongyang, now known as the capital of North Korea, once was a heavily Christian city where American missionaries founded and led churches, schools, and hospitals. Throughout Korea during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, American missionaries brought religion, education, science, and the culture and ideas of the West to Koreans eager to embrace them and bring their people and country into the modern world, and the people of Pyongyang led the country in their enthusiasm for the new religion and new outlook on the world. American Presbyterians founded a mission in Pyongyang in 1895, and they and their Korean converts made Pyongyang the most heavily Christian city in Korea and one of the leading centers of Christianity in Asia. Pyongyang's leading role in the spread of Christianity in Asia led to it being called “The Jerusalem of the East.” The Jerusalem of the East ceased to exist during the Second World War, and the Communist regime that took over northern Korea after the war eradicated all remaining traces of it. The Americans of Pyongyang have since then been almost completely forgotten in both Korea and the United States. This photographic history tells the story of the Americans of Pyongyang in 88 pages with over 100 period photographs, most of them previously unpublished, and an explanation of the people, the mission, and their historical context.