Flag of People's Republic of China

The flag of the People’s Republic of China is red, with five yellow stars in the upper corner, next to the flagpole. In Chinese it is called Wǔxīng Hóngqí, ‘the red flag of five stars’.

How it came about

In 1949 the Communist Party of China won the civil war and got ready to found a new state. In July that year the newspapers published a competition to choose the flag. It had to be rectangular, above all red, and reflect the history and character of the country. About 3,000 entries came in.

The one chosen was Zeng Liansong’s, a man from Wenzhou who worked in Shanghai. As he told it, he was inspired by the stars of the night sky. The commission approved it on 27 September 1949, after a few tweaks. On 1 October Mao Zedong hoisted it for the first time in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the same day he proclaimed the People’s Republic.

How it has changed

The flag of the People’s Republic has not changed since 1949. Before that, China’s different governments had used very different ones.

1. 

   1862-1889

   The Qing dynasty, the last of the emperors, uses a triangular yellow flag with a blue dragon.

2. 

   1889-1912

   The dragon flag becomes rectangular.

3. 

   1912-1928

   After the fall of the empire, the Republic of China adopts five stripes, one for each of the country’s five great peoples.

4. 

   1928-1949

   The government of the Republic of China adopts the red flag with a white sun on blue. Since 1949 that government has kept using it in Taiwan.

5. 

   1949

   The red flag of five stars of the People’s Republic of China is born.

What it means

This is the current official interpretation:

• Red

  the communist revolution. In China it has also been, since ancient times, the colour of joy and good luck.

• Yellow

  it was chosen so that the stars would shine against the red.

• Large star

  the Communist Party of China.

• Four small stars

  the Chinese people. In Zeng’s original idea they were four social groups: workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie.

• Position of the stars

  each small star points one of its tips at the centre of the big one, as a symbol of unity around the party.

It is sometimes said that the five stars are the five great peoples of China, but that is a confusion with the striped flag of 1912.

Fun facts

1. The sickle and the hammer disappeared

   Zeng’s original design carried a sickle and a hammer inside the big star. They were removed because the flag looked too much like that of the Soviet Union.

2. Mao’s favourite did not win

   At the start, Mao Zedong preferred another design, with one star and a yellow stripe standing for the Yellow River. Several members of the commission objected because the stripe looked as if it split the country in two.

3. A flag on the Moon

   In December 2020 the Chang’e 5 probe deployed a Chinese cloth flag on the surface of the Moon. China was the second country to do so, after the United States.

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Buy the flag on AmazonAffiliate link: if you buy, Wiki Banderas receives a small commission.