Introduction

The primary historical purpose of flags has always been military, used either by national forces or by lords and other lesser leaders in olden times. Flags were used to coordinate the actions of combatants during the confusion of battle, and to tell soldiers where to march, and where to rally. In addition, they were used for communication, at sea for example. In both cases, it makes sense that they are colorful and easy to recognize. Now, of course, flags typically represent a country, part of a country, an armed force, or an organization, whether political, administrative, commercial, or even sporting. The Chinese for flag is 旗, “qi”.

Imperial Flags (pre-1912)

Prior to 1872 there was no national flag for China, although many individual government officials and agencies had flags and banners. One example said to date from around 1500BC has been reconstructed from Znamierowski's World Encyclopedia of Flags. This notes that the number of stripes indicated rank, ranging from 12 red ribbons for the Emperor to one for a low level functionary. The flag was attached to a bamboo staff topped with a metal trident. The red swallowtail ribbon was used to indicate a battle signal.

From 1872 to 1890, the Qing Empire banner used by China as a national flag was a blue five-toed dragon reaching for the red sun on a yellow triangular field. Like many flags made by hand before standardization, proportions and designs sometimes varied – the representation from the ‘Flags of the World’ site is based on a hand embroidered example.

This dragon flag in fact had its origin in an earlier proposal made by Mr. H. N. Lay, the first Inspector General of the China Customs, when on leave in England in 1861. He was at that time engaged in purchasing a fleet of cruisers for the use of the Chinese Government. As China had no national flag at the time, and as it was necessary that these vessels, after being purchased by China, should on their voyage fl y a distinctive ensign in order to avoid risk of capture or detention, Mr. Lay made the suggestion that that ensign should be a yellow diagonal cross on a green background.

The modified Imperial dragon flag from 1890 to 1911

(there are also suggestions that the saltire design element of the flag reflects the Scottish origin of the fleet commander Charles Gordon - green and yellow were his tartan colors). The British Naval authorities, however, declined to recognize this ensign until its adoption had been approved by the Chinese authorities at Peking, and to secure this approval the British inquired of Prince Kung, the Emperor’s brother, whether the Chinese Government would sanction the adoption of the flag in question.

A flag flown by Chinese warships in the 1860s

This in turn led the Imperial authorities at Peking to decide that the national flag of China should be a triangular one, the background to be yellow and the design to be a dragon with its head towards the upper part of the flag. In October 1862 an Imperial Edict was issued to this effect, and Mr. Lay was instructed that the flag to be flown on the cruisers was to be a green ground with a yellow diagonal cross, bearing in the centre a yellow triangle with an Imperial blue dragon. A fictional flag clearly based on this customs concept can be seen as the flag of the Struan trading house in the opening scenes of the film version of James Clavell’s novel, ‘Taipan’.

In 1890 the imperial dragon flag shape became rectangular while the basic design features were retained in slightly altered form.

This flag was replaced with the first flag of the Republic of China in 1912 (see next section).

Some elements of the Chinese armed forces and government had their own flags, too. The first flag authorized in 1867 for use on Customs cruisers had a yellow “saltire” cross on a green background, harking back to Mr. Lay’s original idea of a few years previously, but without the dragon in the centre.

Flags in the Republic of China period (1912-1949)

Following the revolution a flag with five horizontal stripes of red, yellow, blue, white and black was adopted in 1912. It is said, by several commentators, that the each color represents a people, but there are at least two entirely different assignments for the colors :

red = Manchurians

yellow = Han Chinese

blue = Mongolians

white = Muslims

black = Tibetans

red = Han Chinese

In 1928 the Kuomingtang Party took control of the government with its seat in Nanjng and adopted a modified party flag as the new National Flag. This flag remains that used, amidst some controversy, by Taiwan.

PRC flags (1949 to the present day)

The PRC national flag

Following the conclusion of the civil war the People's Republic of China was established in October 1949. It uses a red flag with five gold/yellow stars.

According to the official description on the People’s Daily website, “the national flag of the PRC is a red rectangle emblazoned with five stars…the red of the flag symbolizes revolution: the stars are yellow so that they will stand out brightly against the red ground. The larger star represents the CPC and the four smaller ones, the Chinese people. This expresses the great unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC”. The stars are said by some observers to represent the workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie, and patriotic capitalists.

Many famous products have been named after the flag, such as the “Red Flag” limousine (红旗 hong qi, see China Expat October 2005 issue, pages 9-10).

This flag was designed by Zeng Liangsong, a natural born amateur artist, keen on poetry, painting and calligraphy. He was one of many people to submit designs to the CPCCC who were deciding on national symbols in 1949. An advert went in the newspapers in July and August. In all 3,012 proposals were received, from which 38 were selected in September for discussion and decision. The committee approved the design on 27 September and on 1 October 1949, the date of the formal creation of the PRC, president Mao Zedong hoisted the flag over the Tiananmen Square for the first time.

Zeng Liansong is said to have aimed for a flag that was "modest and majestic, embodying the idea of state power and the features of Chinese history, geography, nationhood and culture." The story of the design’s development is told an article first printed in Jiefang Ribao (Liberation Daily) on 26 July 1999, reprinted in Qingnian Wenzhai November 1999, and translated on the ‘Flags of the World’ website. We quote some parts of it below, and also illustrate some of other early ideas, later rejected in favor of the final version.

“Zeng Liansong, the designer of the Chinese National Flag, has been sick for 20 years…but he wanted to live at least until the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the People’s Republic on 1 October 1999. The reporter has visited him several times in the last years and presents the story of the national flag.

Zeng Liansong lived in Shanghai in 1949, shortly after the liberation of the city by the Communist Party. In July 1949 he read in the newspaper ‘Jiefang Ribao’ that designs for the flag and the coat-of-arms were wanted. As he liked painting, he considered himself qualified for the job; he also asked a friend, if he would consider him qualified. The friend answered, that he should try it.

For the design he took into consideration well-known symbols of communism: red color, stars, hammer and sickle. As a symbol for the sun, under which the Chinese people lives after the liberation by the Communist Party he decided to use the golden star as main element of the flag. He took a large star to symbolize the leadership of the Communist Party, and four smaller stars for the four classes...

In the first design he arranged these five stars along the hoist like a tie, but his friend was not satisfied. So he designed a new variant, essentially the flag as it has been adopted; the only difference was that he added a red hammer and sickle emblem in the centre of the big star.

There were 3,012 proposals, from which 38 (including the one by Zeng Liansong) were chosen for the eventual decision by a committee. Many of the proposals were rejected, because they were too similar to flags used by the Soviet Union or other Communist Parties. The three favored designs contained a red field with the golden star in the canton, and one, two or three thin golden horizontal bars dividing the flag in a larger upper part and a smaller lower part. The bars were to represent the rivers Huanghe, Yangtse and Zhu Jiang providing the basis for Chinese culture and history. Two committee members especially voted against these designs. Mr. Tian Han preferred the design by Zeng Liansong…. Mr. Zhang Zhizhong was against the designs with the golden bars, as these seemed to represent a separation of the country. Chairman Mao Zedong asked him what he would prefer; he also voted for the design by Zeng Liansong, but without the hammer and sickle. So on 27 September the design by Zeng Liansong (without hammer and sickle) was approved, and on 1 October hoisted for the first time on Tiananmen Square”.

Because of the significance of the flag, it has its own law to regulate its use and display (full text http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/cn_law.html), the ‘Law of the People's Republic of China on the National Flag’.

Other variations on the PRC flag

Some organizations within the Communist Party of China, such as the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers, also have their own flags. And the various parts of the armed forces – People’s Liberation Army, People’s Liberation Navy and People’s Liberation Air Force – each have their own flag.

The Special Administrative Regions

Hong Kong and Macao both have their own flags, flown widely in these SARs.

That of Hong Kong is a red flag bearing a white flower called the Hong Kong Orchid Tree (Bauhinia Blakeana). It was adopted 16 February 1990 and first officially hoisted on 1 July 1997 when Hong Kong was returned by the UK to China. More historical Hong Kong flags can be seen on the ‘Flags of the World’ website.

Macao adopted its flag prior to its return by Portugal to China on 20 December 1999. The flag is light green with a white lotus above a stylized bridge and water and beneath an arc of five stars, one large and four smaller as on the flag of China. According to a 1998 report by Xinhua news agency, the flag was designed by Xiao Hong, a professor of arts and crafts at the Henan University, one of over 1,000 considered. He apparently designed the flag after reading a 600-word tourist guide on Macao, and it was further improved before being approved in 1993.

Other flags in China – the former foreign concessions

Many of the “treaty ports” and concessions occupied by foreign powers in the 19th and early 20th centuries had their own distinctive flags, often based on the powers that ran them.

Shanghai International Settlement

According to a report in the North China Herald in 1916, the flag used by the International Settlement was designed by a Mr. Oliver, Municipal Engineer and approved by the Shanghai Municipal Council in December 1868. It was first used in April 1869.

At that time 11 countries had treaties with China. These, in the order of the dates of their treaties, were as follows: Russia, the UK, the USA, France, Belgium, Sweden and Norway, Germany (Prussia as it then was), Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, and Italy. With the (unexplained) exception of Belgium the flags of all these countries are included, whereas Austria and Portugal are represented, although they apparently had no treaties.

The flags represented are as follows:

Top left hand shield - UK, USA, France, Germany

Top right hand shield - Russia, Denmark, Italy, Portugal

Lower shield - Norway and Sweden (united at that time), Austria, Spain, Holland.

Various other countries had treaties with China at that time but their flags are not represented on the shield, such as Belgium, Japan, Cuba, and Brazil.

The 1916 newspaper report noted, “there is a considerable amount of contortion of the flags although this is apparently unavoidable. This can only be detected by noting from which side each flag is supposed to be hung. The system adopted has been that, looking from the centre, the flag pole is supposed to be on the left of the flag”.

The report goes on to explain that there was a considerable amount of objection to the design of the flag, and in 1870 Mr. Oliver prepared another. This was in the form of a Shield with four quarters showing a railway train opposite a pagoda, a steamer opposite to a junk, and the word "Priress" underneath (the significance of this world is unclear). This, “together with a heterogeneous assortment of other designs was exhibited”, but at a Ratepayers Meeting it was agreed that none of the new designs proved entirely satisfactory, and it remained in use.

According to one note on the ‘Flags of the World’ website, there was a slightly different version of the flag, missing the German flag and is simply a white space where the flag would have been. This modification was a protest against the German European aggression of the time, presumably around WW1.

Other concessions

We also illustrate the flags of the Commissioner of Weihaiwei (now Weihai), a British concession in Shandong from 1903-1930, and Tsingtao (now Qingdao), a German colony in Shandong 1898-1914. The latter was however not specific to Tsingtao as also used by other German colonies of the period.

Final words

This is a fascinating area for study and we can only illustrate a few of the better-known Chinese-related flags here. However, the ‘Flags of the World’ (http://flagspot.net/flags) is well worth exploring. It also includes a bibliography if you’d like to explore further.

Happy vexillology! CE