[KS] RE: Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 6, Issue 4
Clark, Donald
dclark at trinity.edu
Fri Dec 5 17:17:16 EST 2003
Dear Ruediger,
With respect to Pyongyang's being the Jerusalem of the East, I
thought somebody else would weigh in with this when it first came up but
if it's not too brazen of me, let me refer you to "The Jerusalem of the
East," which is chapter 5 of my new book entitled Living Dangerously in
Korea: the Western Excperience 1900-1950 (EastBridge, 2003). Much of
the book touches on prewar Pyongyang in different ways (the March 1
movement, the UN occupation, and many things in between like the
Wanpaoshan Incident). But this chapter specifically concerns the
Protestant and Catholic communities of Pyongyang, the missionary station
that was the biggest single Western installation in Korea apart from
Seoul, where Westerners were not concentrated in one place.
The missionary community had a boarding school in Pyongyang
called Pyeng Yang Foreign School (PYFS) that closed abruptly in 1940
upon "orders" from the US Consul for "nonessential" American civilians
in Korea to leave. Alumni from PYFS have kept in touch all these years
and though dwindling in number they still have many recollections of the
"Jerusalem of the East" in the 1930s. A number of them have been back
searching in vain for traces of the old mission station that was created
by the Presbyterians, mainly, and also the Methodists. However, though
they were taken to stand on the GPS coordinates of their former mission
compound, the US Air Force had pretty much taken care of any traces long
before, pulverizing the school, dormitory, houses, vocational training
workshops, boys and girls schools of all levels, Soongsil College, the
athletic fields, the Christian hospital, and the Presbyterian
Theological Seminary along with the rest of Pyongyang. (This point was
not lost on the PYFS alumni, who are pillars of the Eugene Bell
Foundation and Christian Friends of Korea, organizations already well
known to many on this list.)
The Catholic missioners in Pyongyang were the Maryknollers, and
they had their own establishment across town. As I explain in the book,
they were not close colleagues of the Protestants, by mutual consent.
The Maryknoll "territory" in Korea was the Pyong'an provinces. The
German Benedictines were in Togwon (Wonsan), the Irish Columbans in the
Chollas, and French MEP missionaries were mainly in Seoul and Taegu.
Don Baker can correct me here. In addition to the main Protestant and
Catholic missions, there was a substantial Seventh Day Adventist
presence with a hospital at Sunan, where the airport now is.
The richest archives for Pyongyang as a mission station are to
be found at the Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, in
Philadelphia. The records of the Catholic mission in Pyongyang are kept
at the Maryknoll archives on the edge of Ossining, New York. These
archives are voluminous and give as much detail as anyone could possibly
want, not only of the missionary work but also of the Korean church
communities.
I'm not sure where the idea got started that Pyongyang was the
most Christian city in Asia. That statement would need some serious
qualification. Wayne's wry point about Manila being more Christian
(Catholic) would be correct, and I suppose there were bigger Christian
communities all over the place (e.g., Nanking, Nagasaki), though perhaps
not bigger as a proportion of the population. If I wanted to be sure,
I'd ask Dr. Samuel Moffett in Princeton, since he's written the books on
the history of Christianity in Asia and knows more about church history
in Asia than almost anyone. I think "most Christian city" is one of
those claims that gets kicked around about Korean Christianity, not all
of which are reliable. I'm sure you are too. It would be very easy to
confuse the "biggest mission station in Asia" claim, which was sometimes
made, with "most Christian city," but of course the two statements are
very different.
But no doubt about it: Pyongyang was the biggest concentration
of missionaries of all kinds in Korea, if you consider that they were
scattered around the city in Seoul, where there were just plain more.
Happy holidays,
Don Clark
-----Original Message-----
From: Koreanstudies-request at koreaweb.ws
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Sent: Friday, December 05, 2003 11:00 AM
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Subject: Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 6, Issue 4
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<<------------ KoreanStudies mailing list DIGEST ------------>>
Today's Topics:
1. new date for KICKS 2004 (sem.ver at btinternet.com)
2. Re: most Christian city in Asia (Wayne Patterson)
3. Re: most Christian city in Asia (Dr. Eckart Dege)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 15:03:39 +0000 (GMT)
From: sem.ver at btinternet.com
Subject: [KS] new date for KICKS 2004
To: Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
Message-ID: <1921109.1070550219622.JavaMail.root at 127.0.0.1>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Dear list members,
Through the list we would like to inform all those who sent a proposal
for the KICKS 2004 conference that it has been moved forward a week:
instead of from May 23 to May 27, it will now take place between May 16
(Sunday) and May 20 (Thursday) 2004. The original date clashed with
Buddha's birthday on May 26, a national holiday.
If you are still considering to participate, it is still possible to
apply (even though the November 30 deadline has passed) (see
www.actakoreana.org for call for papers), but please hurry!
our apologies for the muddled planning,
sincerely,
Sem Vermeersch
coordinator KICKS 2004
(please reply to acta at kmu.ac.kr)
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 10:23:58 -0600
From: "Wayne Patterson" <wayne.patterson at snc.edu>
Subject: Re: [KS] most Christian city in Asia
To: Ruediger Frank <rfrank at koreanstudies.de>,
Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
Message-ID: <E1ARwH0-00078Y-Nt at secure.server-3.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Dear Ruediger --
I too have seen this quote somewhere but, like you, cannot
remember where I saw it. But, the fact of the matter is that
the statement is not true. Manila would qualify as the most
Christian (Catholic) city in Asia.
Best,
Wayne Patterson
Date sent: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 10:20:15 +0100
To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
From: Ruediger Frank <rfrank at koreanstudies.de>
Copies to: Subject: [KS] most Christian city
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Dear colleagues,
there is a quote I can't find anymore. I am sure that I read
something
like "before 1945, Pyeongyang was the most Christian city in
Asia",
referring to the percentage of Christians (protestants, I
suppose?) among
the city's population. Who wrote this, and where?
Thanks for your help,
Ruediger
***********
Dr. Ruediger Frank
Visiting Professor
University of Vienna
East Asian Institute, Japan/Korea
Spitalgasse 2-4
A-1090 Vienna, Austria
phone: +43-1-4277 43822
fax: +43-1-4277 9438
email: rfrank at koreanstudies.de
************
Dr. Wayne Patterson
Department of History Office: 920-403-3096
St. Norbert College FAX: 920-403-4086
100 Grant Street Department: 920-403-3133
DePere, Wisconsin 54115-2099 E-Mail: wayne.patterson at snc.edu
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 20:08:16 +0100
From: "Dr. Eckart Dege" <dege at geographie.uni-kiel.de>
Subject: Re: [KS] most Christian city in Asia
To: Korean Studies Discussion List <Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
Message-ID: <3FCF861F.C25ECAD at geographie.uni-kiel.de>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Dear Ruediger,
Chris Spinger writes in his new book 'Pyongyang, The Hidden History of
the North
Korean Capital', Budapest 2003: "Western missionaries turned Pyongyang
into Korea's
most Christianized city, the "Jerusalem of the East", where one-sixth of
residents
professed to the faith". (page 48) - But I have the feeling I read that
somewhere else
before (not necessarily the most Christianized city of Asia), but can't
remember
where.
Tschuess,
Eckart
Wayne Patterson schrieb:
> Dear Ruediger --
>
> I too have seen this quote somewhere but, like you, cannot
> remember where I saw it. But, the fact of the matter is that
> the statement is not true. Manila would qualify as the most
> Christian (Catholic) city in Asia.
>
> Best,
>
> Wayne Patterson
>
> Date sent: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 10:20:15 +0100
> To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> From: Ruediger Frank <rfrank at koreanstudies.de>
> Copies to: Subject: [KS] most Christian
city in Asia
> Send reply to: Korean Studies Discussion List
<Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> <koreanstudies_koreaweb.ws.koreaweb.ws>
> <mailto:Koreanstudies-request at koreaweb.ws?subject=unsubscribe>
> <mailto:Koreanstudies-request at koreaweb.ws?subject=subscribe>
>
> [ Double-click this line for list subscription options ]
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> there is a quote I can't find anymore. I am sure that I read
> something
> like "before 1945, Pyeongyang was the most Christian city in
> Asia",
> referring to the percentage of Christians (protestants, I
> suppose?) among
> the city's population. Who wrote this, and where?
>
> Thanks for your help,
>
> Ruediger
>
> ***********
> Dr. Ruediger Frank
> Visiting Professor
> University of Vienna
> East Asian Institute, Japan/Korea
> Spitalgasse 2-4
> A-1090 Vienna, Austria
> phone: +43-1-4277 43822
> fax: +43-1-4277 9438
> email: rfrank at koreanstudies.de
> ************
>
> Dr. Wayne Patterson
> Department of History Office: 920-403-3096
> St. Norbert College FAX: 920-403-4086
> 100 Grant Street Department: 920-403-3133
> DePere, Wisconsin 54115-2099 E-Mail: wayne.patterson at snc.edu
--
Prof. Dr. Eckart Dege
Geographisches Institut
Universitaet Kiel
D-24098 Kiel
Germany
Tel. (office) +49 431 880-2941
Tel. (home) +49 4342 889695
Fax (office) +49 431 880-4658
Fax (home) +49 4342 889694
Mobile +49 171 7110654
End of Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 6, Issue 4
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