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Chinese Flag History

One of the world's most recognizable flags, the Chinese flag consists of a solid medium red background with five stars colored gold and located in the flag's upper left hand corner. One of the stars is a few times the size of the remaining four stars and is located in the far upper left corner with the other four stars of equal size forming a semi circle around it. The symbolism and history of the flag of China is as interesting as any other flag in the world.

The symbolism of the of the flag of China is quite interesting. The large gold star is believe to resemble the leadership of China's communist party, while the four smaller gold stars are said to represent the four main Chinese social classes which are the peasants, the workers, the petty bourgeoisie, and the capitalists. The stars are said to be gold because to represent the skin color of the Chinese people, and the flag is red to represent the communist government.

The current Chinese flag's origination began in 1949 shortly after the Chinese civil war ended. In July 1949 the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference announced a contest in which all citizens could submit ideas for a new flags design. The contest was originated to increase citizen morale, and over 3,000 submissions were received. The contest was won by economist Zen Liansong, whose design was ultimately approved by the Chinese government in September 1949. Zen Liansong's design was slightly altered, as his original design included having a hammer and sickle within the large star and having horizontal lines below the smaller stars, but Zeng is credited with creating the flag.

The Chinese flag was put on display within Tiananmen Square in Beijing for the first time on October 1, 1949. The flag is still raised every day at sunrise and taken down every night at sunset within Tiananmen Square. Each day there is a small ceremony when the flag is raised which normally draws hundreds of viewers.

The Chinese people take great pride in their flag. In 1999 the government required all citizens to display their flag to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the flag. Residents who either did not have a flag or whose flag was too shabby for display were required to pay for a new one.

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