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Flag of China

Asia

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Quick Facts

Capital
Beijing
Flag adopted
1949
Population
1,408,280,000
Area
9,706,961 km²
Languages
Chinese
Currency
Chinese yuan (¥) — CNY
Demonym
Chinese
Government
communist party-led state
Subregion
Eastern Asia
Driving side
Right
Timezones
UTC+08:00
Independence
1949

Religions

  • Unspecified 52.1%
  • folk religion 21.9%
  • Buddhist 18.2%
  • Christian 5.1%
  • Muslim 1.8%
  • Other 0.7%
  • Hindu 0.1%
  • Jewish 0.1%

About This Flag

The flag of China, known as the Five-Starred Red Flag, features a red field with five golden-yellow stars in the upper-left canton. One large star is accompanied by four smaller stars arranged in an arc to its right, each with one point oriented toward the center of the large star.

The red represents the communist revolution and the blood of martyrs, while the large star symbolizes the Communist Party of China. The four smaller stars originally represented the four social classes — the working class, the peasantry, the urban petty bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie — united under the Party's leadership.

The flag was first hoisted in Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949, at the founding of the People's Republic.

What the colors & design mean

Red symbolizes the communist revolution and sacrifice. The large star represents the leadership of the Communist Party. The four smaller stars represent the unity of the Chinese people under the Party, originally defined as the four social classes in Mao Zedong's class analysis.

red yellow

Pattern: Solid Field

Bordering countries (14)

🇦🇫 Afghanistan 🇧🇹 Bhutan 🇲🇲 Myanmar 🇮🇳 India 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan 🇳🇵 Nepal 🇰🇵 North Korea 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan 🇱🇦 Laos 🇲🇳 Mongolia 🇵🇰 Pakistan 🇷🇺 Russia 🇹🇯 Tajikistan 🇻🇳 Vietnam

Fun Facts

  • The flag was designed by Zeng Liansong, an economist from Zhejiang province, and was selected from over 3,000 submissions in a national design competition held in 1949.
  • Zeng's original design included a hammer and sickle inside the large star, but Mao Zedong had it removed to avoid too close a resemblance to the Soviet flag.
  • Chinese law strictly regulates the flag's dimensions, requiring a length-to-width ratio of 3:2, and specifies exact positioning coordinates for each star.
  • The flag was first raised at the proclamation ceremony of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong on October 1, 1949, and that date is celebrated annually as National Day.

Similar looking flags

These flags share similar colors and patterns:

🇨🇳 Kyrgyzstan 🇨🇳 Vietnam 🇨🇳 Montenegro 🇨🇳 North Macedonia

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