History of the Chinese Flag

The Chinese flag design is composed of a solid red background with five gold stars positioned in the upper left hand corner. The star furthest to the flag’s left side is larger than all the others. The remaining four smaller stars are spread out, surrounding the largest star and all appear to be spread evenly in distance away from the larger star and away from each other. One of the five points on each of the four smaller stars points directly to the center of the large star.

The symbolism of the large golden star is said to represent the leadership of the Communist Party of China, while the four smaller stars are believed to represent the four classes of people in China (as categorized by Mao Zedong): workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie, and patriotic capitalists. The colors represented, red and gold, also are symbolic in meaning. Red is a color commonly associated with communism and gold is said to symbolize the yellow race of the Chinese nation.

The story of the Chinese flag’s origin began in July 1949 when the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) placed an ad in the newspapers stating that entries for the design of China’s flag were being accepted and that all people were invited to submit their entries. Over 3,000 entries were received and that number was soon narrowed down to 38 possibilities for the CPPCC committee to decide from. And eventually, a design by Zeng Liansong was chosen as the flag design for the People’s Republic of China. The committee made a small change to Zeng’s flag design by removing a hammer and sickle from the center of the large star, but Zeng was still credited with the flag’s design.

The design was officially approved on September 27, 1949 and on October 1, 1949, President Mao Zedong raised the flag over Tiananmen Square for the first time for all to see.The Chinese flag is raised at sunrise and lowered at sunset in a simple ceremony everyday. The daily ceremonies take place in Beijing at Tiananmen Square, where the flag’s design was first unveiled to the people of China, in front of a large crowd of spectators.