This article is about the political principle of the Republic of China. For the similarly-named principle adopted by Manchukuo, see Five Races Under One Union (Manchukuo).
Five Races Under One Union
The center flag is the Five-Colored Flag of the Republic of China. Underneath the three flags is the message: "Long live the union" (共和萬歲).
The term "Hui" (回) here refers to all Muslims (回民,a.k.a. 穆斯林) in China as a whole regardless of ethnicity,[11] including Chinese-speaking Muslims,Turkic-speaking Uyghurs,Kazakhs,Uzbeks,Kyrgyzs and Tatars,Mongolic-speaking Dongxiangs and Bonans,and Iranic-speaking Pamiris,etc. The term "Muslim Territory" (回疆;Huíjiāng) was an older name for Xinjiang during the Qing dynasty.[12] It was only after the establishment of the People's Republic of China that the term "Hui" started to refer specifically to Chinese-speaking Muslims.[13][14]
Records from the Sui dynasty show a system of military banners using the five colors to represent the Five Elements:red for fire,yellow for earth,blue for wood,white for metal,and black for water. The Tang dynasty inherited this system,and has arranged the colors in a united flag according to the above order of the elements,for military use. During the Liao and Song periods,paintings depict the Khitan people using the same flag design. During the reign of the Mongol Yuan dynasty the five colors began to symbolize ethnicities (五色四夷) in a multi-ethnic state. In later historical periods,this "flag of the five united elements" was altered and re-adapted for military and official uses. A Qing-era painting depicting the victory of the Banners over the Muslim Du Wenxiu rebellion in Yunnan,includes a Qing military flag with the five elements arranged in the order of yellow,white,black,green and red.[citation needed]
Painting of the Qing army facing the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan. The Qing military used a five-color flag.
After the Wuchang uprising,the Qing dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China. On 1 January 1912,during the Republic of China presidential inauguration,Sun Yat-sen mentioned the idea "Five Race Under One Union." He claims that the people are the core of a nation,and that uniting Han,Manchus,Mongols,Hui,and Tibetans as a country is to unite them all as one people.
Prior to the adoption of the five-colored flag by the Republic,several different flags were promoted by the revolutionaries. For example,the military units of Wuchang wanted a 9-star flag featuring a taijitu,while Sun Yat-sen preferred the Blue Sky and White Sun flag to honor Lu Haodong.[10]
The Nanjing Road following the Shanghai Uprising,with the Five Races Under One Union flags used by the revolutionaries on display
Despite the uprisings targeting a Manchu-dominated regime,Sun Yat-sen,Song Jiaoren and Huang Xing unanimously advocated racial integration,which was symbolized by the five-color flag.[15] They promoted a view of the non-Han ethnicities as also being Chinese,despite their being a relatively small percentage of the population.[16] However,while Sun Yat-sen advocated for racial integration,he believes that the five-color flag,despite claiming the five race as equal,arranges the color from top to bottom,suggesting hierarchy.
The "five ethnic groups under one union" flag was no longer used after the Northern Expedition ended in 1928.
A variation of this flag was adopted by Yuan Shikai's empire and the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. In Manchukuo,a similar slogan was used,but the five races it represented were the Yamato (red),Han (blue),Mongols (white),Koreans (black) and Manchus (yellow). Some of its own variations also made the yellow more prominent,rather than display each color equally.
↑Hui Wang, ed. (14 October 2014). China from Empire to Nation-State. Harvard University Press. p.2014. Late Qing revolutionaries may have used anti-Manchu slogans in support of a Han nationalism, but the 1911 revolution resulted in a republican political structure of "Five Nations Under One Union" that exercised national self-determination in foreign affairs while, in the domestic realm, practiced equality among national/ethnic groups within its borders.
↑Zhaoguang Ge, ed. (26 March 2018). What Is China?: Territory, Ethnicity, Culture, and History. Harvard University Press. p.10. These anti-Manchu revolutionaries were forced to compromise and to accept ideas about nation and ethnicity advocated by Liang Qichao (1873-1929) and Kang Youwei (1858-1927) and assent to the idea of "Five Nations under One Union" that was described in the imperial edict with which the final Qing emperor abdicated the throne.
↑Wang Gungwu, ed. (2013). Renewal: The Chinese State and the New Global History. Chinese University Press. p.32. Han nationalists realized the territorial implications of the European definition of nation, they quickly turned around to speak about be- ing a "Five-nation Republic" (wuzu gonghe 五族共和).
↑Zhaodong Wang, ed. (21 March 2022). Sino-British Negotiations and the Search for a Post-War Settlement, 1942–1949: Treaties, Hong Kong, and Tibet. De Gruyter. p.190. After the collapse of the Qing Empire in 1912, the doctrine of the five-nation re- public (wuzugonghe 五族共和) was introduced by the Republican government with the purpose of unifying the different ethnic groups.
12Fitzgerald, John (1998). Awakening China: Politics, Culture, and Class in the Nationalist Revolution. Stanford University Press. p.180. ISBN0-8047-3337-6.
↑"China's Islamic Heritage". 5 March 2006. The Nationalist government had recognised all Muslims as one of "the five peoples"—alongside the Manchus, Mongols, Tibetans and Han Chinese—that constituted the Republic of China
Notes: Acting leaders italicised; By-elections denoted with (b)
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