Rangrang-guyŏk or Rangrang District is one of the 18 ''kuyŏk'' that constitute the city of

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. It is located south of the

Taedong River The Taedong River (Chosŏn'gŭl: ) is a large river in North Korea. The river rises in the Rangrim Mountains of the country's north where it then flows southwest into Korea Bay at Namp'o.Suh, Dae-Sook (1987) "North Korea in 1986: Strengthening ...

, and is bordered to the north by

Songyo-guyok Sŏn'gyo-guyŏk or Songyo District is one of the 18 guyŏk that constitute the city of Pyongyang, North Korea. It is on the eastern bank of the Taedong River at the center of East Pyongyang. It is bordered to the south by Nakrang-guyok, to the n ...

, to the east by the

Ryokpo-guyok Ryŏkp'o-guyŏk, or Ryŏkp'o District, is one of the 18 wards (guyŏk) that constitute Pyongyang, North Korea. This is where part of the Goguryeo tombs Goguryeo tombs, officially designated as the Complex of Koguryo Tombs, are tombs in North Ko ...

, and to the south by Chunghwa and Kangnam counties.

History

The

Lelang Commandery The Lelang Commandery was a commandery of the Han dynasty established after it had conquered Wiman Joseon in 108 BC and lasted until Goguryeo conquered it in 313. The Lelang Commandery extended the rule of the Four Commanderies of Han as far so ...

was, according to the ''

Book of Han The ''Book of Han'' or ''History of the Former Han'' (Qián Hàn Shū,《前汉书》) is a history of China finished in 111AD, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. I ...

'', composed of 27 districts and had a population of over 406,748 people. Located on the Taedong River at the approximate location of modern Pyongyang, archeological evidence suggests that the seat of the commandery had been moved to this district here after the destruction of

Wanggeom-seong Wanggeom-seong ( ko, 왕검성) was the capital city of Gojoseon from 194 to 108 BC. It is also known as ''Wangheom-seong'' (; 王險城). Conflicting opinions about its location One theory suggests the capital was around the modern city of Pyon ...

, the old Koguryo capital at Pyongyang and is claimed to have been original seat of the

lelang The Lelang Commandery was a commandery of the Han dynasty established after it had conquered Wiman Joseon in 108 BC and lasted until Goguryeo conquered it in 313. The Lelang Commandery extended the rule of the Four Commanderies of Han as far so ...

commandery. During the Japanese colonial period, the area was part of

Taedong County Taedong County is a ''kun'' (county) in South P'yŏngan province, North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Pen ...

. As Pyongyang grew and annexed many former parts of Taedong County, the area was later split up Pyongyang's Dong-guyok,

Kangnam-gun Kangnam County is one of the two suburban counties of Pyongyang, North Korea. It is north-west of Songrim, north-east of Hwangju County, west of Chunghwa County, and south of Nakrang-guyok. It is the location of cooperative farms and smaller indu ...

, and

Chunghwa-gun Chunghwa County is a county of North Hwanghae, formerly one of the four suburban counties of East Pyongyang, North Korea. It sits north of Hwangju-gun, North Hwanghae, east of Kangnam-gun, North Hwanghae, west of Sangwŏn-gun, North Hwanghae, an ...

. Rangrang-guyok was officially created as a separate district in 1959. The district is famous for the large number of

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

and Koguryo tombs which litter the area, many of which were first discovered by the Japanese in the early 1910s (see

Nakrang Tombs Nangnang or Naklang can have several meanings: * Lelang Commandery ** The ancient Korean peninsular polity ** The commandery of the Han empire of China * Nangnang-guyok, a district of Pyongyang, North Korea * Nangnang, Bhutan, a town in Bumthang, ...

). Japanese archaeologists Torrii Ryuzo and Imanishi Ryu, in particular, were instrumental in the tomb excavations and in identifying the Nakrang Earthen Castle in Tosong-ri as the seat of the commandery. Over 1,500 tombs in all have been located, with sixty-three alone located in just one district (Chongbaek-dong). However, North Korea claims that all tombs are in fact of the

Koguryo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...

period, as it denies the existence of the Chinese settlement of Lelang, claiming it was a Koguryo city-state, and that the thousands of Chinese artifacts merely represent the burgeoning trade that the State of Nakrang had with the Han.

Administrative divisions

Rangrang-guyok is divided into nine administrative districts known as

tong Tong may refer to: Chinese *Tang Dynasty, a dynasty in Chinese history when transliterated from Cantonese *Tong (organization), a type of social organization found in Chinese immigrant communities *''tong'', pronunciation of several Chinese char ...

, as well as nine villages ("ri"). The larger five tong (Chongbaek, Chongo, Kwanmun, Nakrang, and Tongil) are further divided in two parts for administrative purposes, which Chungsong-dong is divided into three.

References

Districts of Pyongyang {{NorthKorea-geo-stub