Taiwan

3×5' nylon flag of Taiwan (Republic of China).

Its formal name is poetic: "Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth." The canton was designed in 1895 by the revolutionary Lu Haodong, more than fifteen years before the fall of the Qing dynasty.

Design

A red field with a blue canton bearing a white sun of twelve triangular rays.

History & Symbolism

Lu Haodong's blue and white sun flag was the banner of the Revive China Society. Sun Yat-sen later added the red field, and the full flag became the national flag of the Republic of China in 1928. Since 1949 it has flown in Taiwan. The three colors stand for Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People: blue for nationalism and liberty, white for democracy and equality, and red for the people's livelihood and fraternity. The twelve rays stand for the twelve months and the twelve traditional two-hour periods of the day.

Flag Specifications

• Adopted: 1928 (canton 1895)
• Official proportions: 2:3
• Colors: red, blue, white
• Emblem: white sun of twelve rays

Vexillographer's Note

At the Olympic Games, Taiwan's athletes compete as "Chinese Taipei" under a separate flag. This flag, though, is the one flown across the island.

Humphrys Flag Company · Old City Philadelphia · Est. 1864