The Blue Sky with a White Sun (Chinese: 青天白日; pinyin: Qīng tīan bái rì) serves as the design for the party flag and emblem of the Kuomintang (KMT), the canton of the flag of the Republic of China, the national emblem of the Republic of China (ROC), and as the naval jack of the ROC Navy.
In the "Blue Sky with a White Sun" symbol, the twelve rays of the white Sun representing the twelve months and the twelve traditional Chinese hours (時辰 shíchen), each of which corresponds to two modern hours (小時 xiǎoshí, literal meaning: "small shi") and symbolizes the spirit of progress.
Contents |
The "Blue Sky with a White Sun" flag was originally designed by Lu Hao-tung, a "martyr" of the Republican revolution. He presented his design to represent the revolutionary army at the inauguration of the Society for Regenerating China, an anti-Qing society in Hong Kong, on February 21, 1895. In 1905, Sun Yat-sen added a red field to the design to create what would become the current flag of the Republic of China (青天白日滿地紅). According to George Yeo, the Foreign Minister of Singapore, in those days the 青天白日滿地紅 flag was sewn in the Sun Yat Sen Villa or Wan Qing Yuan (晚晴园) in Singapore by Teo Eng Hock and his wife.[1][2]
During the Wuchang Uprising in 1911 that heralded the Republic of China, the various revolutionary armies had different flags. Lu Hao-tung's "Blue Sky with a White Sun" flag was used in the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou, while the "18-Star Flag", "Five-Colored Flag", and other designs were used elsewhere.
When the government of the Republic of China was established on January 1, 1912, The "Five-Colored" flag was adopted as the national flag, but Sun Yat-sen did not consider its design appropriate, reasoning that horizontal order implied a hierarchy or class like that which existed during dynastic times. Thus, when he established a rival government in Guangzhou in 1917, he brought over the "Blue Sky with a White Sun" flag for the party and the "Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth" (then the naval ensign) for the nation. This officially became the national flag in 1928, and continued to serve as the naval ensign; the "Blue Sky with a White Sun" flag was adopted as the naval jack at the same time.
Chinese Muslims put Kuomintang Blue Sky with a White Sun party symbols on their Halal restaurants and shops. A Christian missionary in 1935 took a picture of a Muslim meat restaurant in Hankow which had Arabic and Chinese lettering indicating that it was Halal (fit for Muslim consumption), and it had two Kuomintang party symbols on it.[3][4]
The Chinese Muslim troops of the 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) wore Kuomintang Blue Sky with a White Sun armbands, and used Kuomintang Blue Sky with a White Sun banners.[5]
In the early years of the Republic, under the KMT's political tutelage, the KMT party flag shared the same prominence as the ROC 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 National Father Sun Yat-sen displayed in the center. After the promulgation of the Constitution of the Republic of China, the party flag was removed from such displayed and the national flag moved to the center.
Since the ROC government moved to Taiwan and especially in the years since the end of martial law the KMT flag has lost some of its prominence. However, it is still frequently seen in political rallies and other meetings of KMT and the pan-blue coalition.
The flag and the KMT party emblem made news during the ROC legislative elections of 2004, when President Chen Shui-bian suggested that the Kuomintang's flag and party emblem violated the ROC's National Emblem Law for being too similar to the national emblem of the Republic of China. Chen stated that the law forbids the ROC's emblem and flag from being used by non-governmental organizations and warned that the KMT would have three months to change its flag and emblem if his Democratic Progressive Party won a majority of seats in the legislature. The KMT responded by asking the government to change the national emblem, saying the KMT emblem existed first. However, the pan-green coalition failed to win a majority, and Chen took no action for the remainder of his presidency.