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Flag of the People’s Republic of China. photo by User:SKopp-

13 Sensational Facts about the Chinese Flag

The Chinese flag is also known as the Five-star Red Flag. The flag consists of a Chinese red field with five golden stars charged at the canton.

The People鈥檚 Liberation Army (PLA) raised the flag for the first time at Tiananmen Square during a ceremony in October 1, 1949, that proclaimed the establishment of the People鈥檚 Republic of China.

Learn more about the Chinese flag in these 13 sensational facts.

1. The Symbolism of the Chinese Flag

The red background of the Chinese flag represents the Chinese communist revolution and the five stars represent the unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The orientation of the stars shows that harmony should revolve around a center.

According to the original description of the flag of Zeng, the larger star symbolizes the CCP and the other four smaller stars represent the four social cases of china鈥檚 new democracy mentioned in Mao鈥檚; the people’s democratic dictatorship, the working class, the peasantry and the urban petite bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie.

Sometimes the five stars are said to represent the large ethnic group of China; Han Chinese Zhuangs, Hui Chinese, Manchus and Uyghurs. This is regarded as an erroneous conflation with the 鈥淔ive Races under One Union鈥� flag.

2. The Chinese Flag Was Designed by Zeng Liansong

Variant flag of the People’s Republic of China with wider angled stars. Photo by Zeng Liansong-

The Chinese flag of the People鈥檚 Republic of China was designed by Zeng Liansong. The flag depicted a field of Chinese red with four gold stars around a larger star in the canton. The larger star contained the hammer and sickle symbol of communism.

His design was similar to the design that the nation ended up adopting. The only difference was removing the hammer and sickle symbol from the larger star.

3. The Guidelines for Displaying the Flag of Chinese

The National Flag Law of the People鈥檚 Republic of China has put together comprehensive regulations on the institution and places for displaying the flag.

The law states that the flag should be hang daily at Tiananmen Square, the Gate of New China, the Standing Committee of the National People鈥檚 Congress, the State Council, the Chinese People Political Consultative Conference, and the Supreme People鈥檚 Procuratorate, amongst many other.

Also, the flag should be hang at various departments of the State Council, local committees, and courts. It should be raised full-time in schools except on vacation and Sundays.

4. The Priority of the Chinese Flag in Processions

As stipulated in Article 15 of the Law on the Chinese National Flag, it shall always be in front of the other flags when carried or raised in a procession with another flag or flags.

However, there have been incidents violating the provided provisions, such as the CCP flag leading the national flag, have occured.

5. It is Illegal to Desecrate the Chinese Flag

Chinese flag, Beijing, China. Photo by Daderot-

China prohibits flag desecration. The penal code for desecration allows for imprisonment of up to three years, public surveillance, criminal detention or withholding of political rights,

The desecration of the National Flag or the National Emblem of the People鈥檚 Republic of China by intentionally burning, scrawling on, mutilating, defiling or trampling upon it in a public space.

Hong Kong elected legislator Cheng Chung-tai was sentenced for desecrating the flag under the National Flag and National Emblem Ordinance in September 29, 2017.

Cheng had been seen turning the representation of the flags upside down in the legislative chamber in October 2016.

6. The Chinese Customs Flag

The custom flag is the Chinese national flag with the emblem of customs at the lower right corner, which has a golden critical and the Caduceus of Hermes crossing each other.

The currently used custom flag was officially adopted in October 1, 1953. The flag should be hung at the bow of the customs vessels.

7. The Chinese Military has Six Flags

The Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) has six flags. The main attributes of these flags are a golden star at the top left corner and two Chinese characters to the right of the star, all placed on a red background.

The main PLA flag was created on June 15, 1949, by a decree issued by Mao. The flag dimension is a ratio of 5:4, with a white sleeve measuring 0.0625 of the flag’s length.

During ceremonies, a PLA flag with a golden fringe is placed on a pole with a golden finial and red tassel. Every branch of PLA has a flag to use; the Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force.

The Ground Forces flag has a green bar at the bottom, and the Naval Ensign has stripes of blue and white at the bottom. The Air Force uses a sky blue bar and the Rocket Forces use a yellow bar at the bottom.

The forest green represents the earth, the blue and white stripes represent the seas, the sky blue represents the air and the yellow represents the flare of a missile launching.

8. Chinese Organizational Flags

After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was founded in 1920, the party made flags based on what Bolsheviks used, producing various designs and patterns. The current flag has a red background that is charged with the emblem of the CCP in gold at the top left corner.

The Communist Youth League of China flag was adopted on May 4, 1950. The flag consists of the group emblem, a gold star surrounded by a ring of gold, charged on a red field.

The young Pioneers of China currently use two flags. The first flag is for pioneer battalions, its length is 90 centimeters, and its width is 120 centimeters, a golden badge of the Young Pioneer is placed in the center of the flag.

The second modified flag is used. The flag has a length of 60 cm, a width of 80cm and a triangle is cut out of the fly edge of the flag and the golden emblem is shifted closer to the hoist.

9. There is a Procedure for Folding the Flag

The flag is folded in a specific way. it starts by folding horizontally along the center, repeat, fold horizontally along the center of the flag, fold vertically along the center of the flag, then repeat, fold vertically along the center of the flag followed by a repeat, fold vertically along the center of the flag and repeat fold vertically along the top.

10. The Construction Details of the Flag

Chinese flag, Beijing, China. Photo by Daderot on

The construction sheet for the national flag was published on September 28, 1949, by an order given by the Presidium of the First Plenary Session of the CPPCC.

The information can be found in the document of National Standards of the People鈥檚 Republic of China (GB) 12982-2004: National Flag that the Standardization Administration of China released.

11. The Recommended Size of the Chinese Flag

The Law on the National Flag lists five possible sizes that could be made for the national flag. Besides five official sizes for flying on flagpoles, there are four smaller sizes for other uses, such as decoration on cars or display in meeting rooms.

12. The colors of the Chinese Flag

The national flag colors are mentioned in the document GB 12983-2004: standard color Sample of the National Flag and published by the standardization Administration of China.

The flag has only two colors; red and gold. The fabric used is a synthetic fiber, silk, cotton cloth and sleeve.

13. Flags of the Special Administrative Regions

Various administrative regions of the people鈥檚 republic of china have flags with their adopted symbols. The Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions of china have unique flags.