Feature by Amey Haldankar
China, or more specifically, the People’s Republic of China, is an East Asian country surrounded by Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, North Korea , Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea, and Gulf of Tonkin.
Description of the flag
The flag of China is a red background with a yellow five-pointed star in the canton ( corner) along with other four smaller five-pointed stars (placed immediate right of the larger yellow star) arranged in an arc towards the middle of the flag. The PRC’s ( People’s Republic of China’s) flag is also known as ‘The Red Five-Star Flag’.
What does the Chinese flag symbolise
The colour red is meant for the revolution while the colour yellow signifies the golden brilliant rays which are radiating from the large red Chinese lands. The positioning and size of stars also have a reason behind them. The largest among them signifies ‘CCP’, the ruling government of China since 1949. While the remaining 4 stars represent the four social classes unified under the CCP.
History of the Flag
Starting from the Qing Dynasty which used to rule China till 1912, ‘Yellow Dragon Flag’ was in use. But after the Xinhai Revolution, China became a republic and a new flag was adopted. This flag continued to be in use till 1928, when the ‘Blue sky with White Sun’ flag was adopted. This flag is still used in present day Taiwan.
But in1949, The Communist government took over and in October 1949, the ‘Five- star Red Flag’ was officially adopted and was hoisted at the Beijing Tiananmen Square for the first time.
Image Credit: Wikipedia for old flags and pixabay for the current flag
