In the late 19th century, the Joseon state was politically and culturally collapsing. The intelligentsia was looking for solutions to invigorate and transform the nation. It was in this critical period that they came into contact with Western Protestant missionaries who offered a solution to the plight of Koreans. Christian communities already existed in Joseon, however it was only by the 1880s that the government allowed a large number of Western missionaries to enter the country. Protestant missionaries set up schools, hospitals and publishing agencies. The king of Korea and his family tacitly supported Christianity. From the late nineteenth century, the northwest of Korea, and Pyongyang in particular, became a stronghold of Christianity. As a result, Pyongyang was called the "Jerusalem of the East". At the dawn of the 20th century, almost the totality of the population of Korea believed in the indigenous shamanic religion and practiced Confucian rites and ancestral worship. Korean Buddhism was nearly dead, reduced to a tiny and weak minority of monks, despite its long history and cultural influence, because of 500 years of suppression by the ruling Neo-Confucian Joseon kingdom, which also disregarded traditional cults. During the absorption of Korea into the Japanese Empire (1910–1945) the already formed link of Christianity with Korean nationalism was strengthened, as the Japanese tried to impose State Shinto and Christians refused to take part in Shinto rituals. At the same time, numerous religious movements that since the 19th century had been trying to reform the Korean indigenous religion, notably Chondoism, flourished. Christianity became widespread especially in the north of the peninsula, as did Chondoism which aimed to counter Christian influence. The Korean peninsula was divided into two states in 1945, the communist north and the anti-communist south. Most of the Korean Christians, that had been until then in the northern half of the peninsula, fled to South Korea. By contrast, most of Korean Chondoists remained in the newly formed North Korea. At the time of the partition they were 1.5 million, or 16% of North Korea's population. They participate to the politics of North Korea through the Party of the Young Friends of the Heavenly Way. In 1994 the Central Guidance Committee of the Korean Chondoist Association organised an impressive ceremony at the newly constructed Mausoleum of Dangun (mythical founder of the Korean nation) near Pyongyang. According to some estimates in 2005 in North Korea there are 3,846,000 (16% of the total population) believers of Korean shamanism, 3,245,000 (13.5%) Chondoists, 1,082,000 (4.5%) Buddhists, and 406,000 (1.7%) Christians.