Flag of the Republic of China

Last updated

Republic of China
Flag of the Republic of China.svg
"Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth" (青天白日滿地紅)
Use Civil and state flag, national ensign FIAV 110111.svg FIAV normal.svg
Proportion2:3
Adopted1895 (1895) (by Revive China Society, original version)
1906 (1906) (addition of the red field)
23 October 1911 (1911-10-23) (naval flag)
5 May 1921 (1921-05-05) (by Guangzhou government)
9 December 1928 (1928-12-09) (in mainland China)
25 October 1945 (1945-10-25) (in Taiwan)
October 24, 1954 (1954-10-24) (standardized) [1]
Relinquished1 October 1949;74 years ago (1949-10-01)
(in mainland China)
1 May 1950;74 years ago (1950-05-01)
(in Hainan)
DesignA red field with a navy blue canton bearing a white sun with 12 triangular rays
Designed by Lu Haodong (The canton of the flag)
Sun Yat-sen (The full layout)
"Blue Sky with a White Sun" flag (青天白日旗)
Republic of China naval jack
Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg
Naval jack
Use Naval jack
Proportion2:3
Adopted1895
DesignA white Sun with twelve rays on a navy blue background.
Designed by Lu Haodong
Flag of the Republic of China Army.svg
Army flag
Use War flag
Proportion2:3
DesignA red field with a navy blue rectangular center with a white sun with twelve rays on top of the blue.
Commander-in-Chief Flag of the Republic of China.svg
Use Presidential standard
Proportion2:3
DesignA red field with a yellow border and navy blue circle on the top, a white sun with twelve rays is on top of the blue.
68 of height of the canton, so in this case, it will be 18. The diameter of the white sun without the sun rays is 14 of the width of the canton, so it is 9. The blue ring that is on top of this sun and part of the rays is 115 diameter of the white sun, so the size will be 0.6. The angle of the rays, 30 degrees, and the total number of rays have not changed. [15]

The colours of the national flag are dark red, white and dark blue. However, the KMT party flag only uses white and dark blue; both flags are to be topped with a golden finial. [16] The law does not list any specific colour processes, such as Pantone, to manufacturing or drawing the flag. The Ministry of the Interior provides colours only for reference. [17] Other publications, such as the Album des pavillons nationaux et des marques distinctives , have given approximations for Pantone colours: the dark blue as Pantone 301 C and the dark red as Pantone 186 C. [18] Album des pavillons also gave the approximate CMYK colours for the flag; dark blue is 100-45-0-10 and dark red is 0-90-75-5. [18]

Colours

The colours approximation in other colour spaces are listed below:

Flag of the Republic of China
Traditional Chinese 中華民國 國旗
Simplified Chinese 中华民国 国旗
Literal meaningRepublic of China flag
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin Zhōnghuá Mínguó Guóqí
Bopomofo ㄓㄨㄥ ㄏㄨㄚˊ ㄇㄧㄣˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄑㄧˊ
Wade–Giles Chung1-hua2 Min2-kuo2 Kuo2-ch'i2
Tongyong Pinyin Jhong-huá Mín-guó Guó-qí
IPA [ʈʂʊ́ŋ.xwǎ mǐn.kwǒ kwǒ.tɕʰǐ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization Jūngwàh Màhn·gwok gwokkèih
Flag of the Republic of China.svg
Colour scheme
BlueRedWhite
RGB 0, 41, 204242, 0, 0255, 255, 255
Hexadecimal #0029CC#F20000#FFFFFF
CMYK 100, 80, 0, 200, 100, 100, 50, 0, 0, 0
CMYK
(MOI's suggestion)
100, 80, 0, 200, 100, 100, 5~100, 0, 0, 0
Pantone 2728 C2347 CWhite

Uses

In the early years of the Republic, under the KMT's political tutelage, the flag shared the same prominence as the KMT party flag. A common wall display consisted of the KMT flag perched on the left and the ROC flag perched on the right, each tilted at an angle with a portrait of Father of the Nation Sun Yat-sen displayed in the center. For the summits held between the KMT and Communist Party during the Chinese Civil War, the ROC flag was displayed at an equal position to the flag of the Chinese Soviet Republic (Jiangxi Soviet). Later, the flag law specified a horizontal display of the flag with the portrait of Sun Yat-sen in a portion of the red field at the center position. This display can be found in numerous government offices in Taiwan and is that which the president and vice president face to take the oath of office.

The flag has a ubiquitous presence in Taiwan. The hoisting and lowering of the flag are ceremoniously accompanied by the National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China while those present stand at attention to give a standard salute with the right hand, held flat, to the right eyebrow. Schoolchildren have traditionally been required to attend morning rallies where the flag is raised after a rendition of the National Anthem of the Republic of China . Before martial law was lifted in 1987 in Taiwan, it was required that all vehicles be halted when passing by a flag ceremony.

The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee flag (known in Chinese as the 'Plum Blossom Banner') is derived from and used in place of the flag of the Republic of China at the Olympic Games and in some sporting events. Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg
The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee flag (known in Chinese as the 'Plum Blossom Banner') is derived from and used in place of the flag of the Republic of China at the Olympic Games and in some sporting events.

Instead, the ROC is usually represented under a pseudonym (usually "Chinese Taipei").

The symbolism of the ROC flag began to shift in the early 21st century[ citation needed ] as there was a warming of relations between the pan-Blue coalition in Taiwan and the Chinese Communist Party on mainland China. The flag of the Republic of China has begun to symbolize a common shared history between both mainland China and Taiwan, and as such the government of the PRC has made it clear that for Taiwan to change the flag would be a major provocation in favor of Taiwan independence. The ambiguity surrounding the flag was made apparent during the trip of Kuomintang Chairman Lien Chan to mainland China in April 2005, during which the flag was very prominently displayed at ceremonies honoring Sun Yat-Sen at which both KMT party officials and government officials from the PRC were in attendance. One place in mainland China where the White Sun emblem is still prominently displayed in public is the ceiling mosaic within Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing.

The use of the flag in Taiwan reflects the controversy behind its symbolism. Although supporters of Taiwan independence, such as former president Chen Shui-bian, will display and salute the flag on formal official state occasions, it is never seen at political rallies of the Democratic Progressive Party. This is not only because of its association with mainland China but also because the flag contains design elements of the KMT party flag. By contrast, the ROC flag is always extremely prominent at political rallies of the pan-Blue coalition. This difference extends to the colours seen at the rallies. Rallies of the pan-Blue coalition give prominence to the colours of the ROC flag, with very large amounts of blue and smaller amounts of red. Rallies of independence-leaning parties are filled with green, with no blue or red at all.

Some supporters of Taiwan independence, including former president Lee Teng-hui, have called for the abandonment of the flag, and there are a number of alternative designs for a specifically Taiwanese flag. However, the prospects for this are not high given that changing the flag requires a constitutional amendment; that the current flag has a huge amount of support among pan-Blue supporters and grudging acceptance among moderate independence supporters; and because changing the flag might cause political tension with the PRC. During the 2004 ROC legislative elections, it was briefly suggested that if the pan-green coalition won the elections that it would force the KMT to change the party emblem to be different from the flag. This proposal generated a few days of controversy and was then quickly forgotten.

Chinese diaspora

There has been disagreement in the overseas Chinese community on which flag to fly to represent themselves, supporters and organizations of the Chinese democracy movement often fly the ROC flag rather than the PRC flag to symbolize opposition to Communist rule. [19]

Rennie's Mill Middle School flying the ROC flag in Hong Kong, 1995 Rennie's Mill Middle School.jpg
Rennie's Mill Middle School flying the ROC flag in Hong Kong, 1995

Some Hong Kongers have historically flown the ROC flag to demonstrate their shared opposition to the PRC's policies, as well as to honor the legacy of Sun Yat-sen, as part of the pro-ROC and pro-democracy camps. [20] [21] In recent years, however, due to the PRC's tightening of state control over Hong Kong, supporters of the ROC have faced severe restrictions in expressing their political support, especially in publicly flying the ROC flag or celebrating the National Day of the Republic of China on October 10th every year. [22]

Desecration

Under Articles 118 and 160 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China, it is a criminal offence to insult either the national flag or the national emblem of any country. If it is a national flag or emblem of a foreign country being insulted, the name of the offence would be 'obstructing state diplomacy'; if it is the ones of the Republic of China, the offence would be 'disturbing the order'. Besides, insulting or damaging the portrait of Sun Yat-sen is also punishable as 'disturbing the order'. The penalty can be either incarceration for one year or less, or a fine of $9,000 NTD or less. [23] [24] [25]

Subdivisions

Military flags

Historical flags

National flags

See also

Related Research Articles

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