The Battle of Pyongyang, also known as the Battle of Ping-yang, occurred on 15 September 1894 during the First Sino-Japanese War when the Imperial Japanese Army assaulted the major Korean city of Pyongyang and defeated Qing China's Beiyang Army in the process.
Pyongyang served as the Qing army's main garrison in Korea, as it was located along the Taedong River, a major shipping route. 8,000 Chinese troops arrived in Pyongyang by sea and another 5,000 by land from Manchuria, and they were joined by the retreating army of Ye Zhichao, who had been defeated at the Battle of Seonghwan. The troops in Pyongyang were from the Beiyang Army, which had received modern training and equipment, including 4 field artillery pieces, 6 machine-guns, and 28 mountain guns. From August to September 1894, the Chinese fortified Pyongyang with massive earthworks, built forts along the Taedong River, and constructed solid redoubts to the southwest of the city.
Meanwhile, the 8,000-strong Japanese army in Korea, stationed at Seoul and Chemulpo, was shipped to Wonsan, from which it would march on Pyongyang; Joseon Korea's roads were of notoriously poor quality. On 12 June 1894, Yamagata Aritomo and the 10,000-strong Japanese 1st Army was shipped to Chemulpo, and it joined forces with the Japanese expeditionary force in Korea on 12 September. The Japanese planned to send their Combined Brigade to attack Pyongyang from the south and southwest, while also dispatching flanking columns to attack the city, and sending the Wonsan column to cut off the Chinese army's escape route.
The attack began on 15 September 1894, and, after twelve hours of battle in the heavy rain and mud, the Chinese repulsed the Japanese army's Main Division. Meanwhile, the Combined Brigade attacked the river forts, only to be forced to evacuate the captured earthworks by nightfall due to the short range of the Japanese artillery. However, the tide was turned when the Japanese Wonsan and Sangnyong columns took the Chinese fortress at Moktan-tei to the north of Pyongyang, allowing for the Japanese artillery to fire across the city walls of Pyongyang. The Chinese army was forced to surrender at 4:30 PM, and the Japanese entered the city a day later. Japanese snipers killed large numbers of retreating Chinese troops on the northern roads, and the Japanese were able to advance to the Yalu River without opposition, and the Chinese army withdrew from Korea.