Vexillology: Asia

Asia has some great flags! Many of the flags of Asian countries date back hundreds of years and, unlike those equally old flags in Europe, are designed to be different and to reflect the unique heritage of the country over which they fly. I've been looking forward to this!

Kingdom of Bhutan

Bhutan has one of my favorite flags! The tiny Himalayan Buddhist kingdom is also called the "Dragon Kingdom" and is ruled by a monarch called the "Dragon King". What else to put on their fantastic national flag, then, but a dragon?

Yellow symbolizes tradition and royalty while orange symbolizes Buddhism (the color of a monk's robes). The dragon is in reference to the kingdom's nickname, but is also believed to be an homage to the old flag of Imperial China.

Seriously, what a great flag!

Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace

Let's move on to the flag of Brunei, a small sultanate located right in the middle of Malaysian Borneo. First of all, I like the colors. There just aren't a whole lot of yellow flags, and the bold slash of white and black bars make the flag look really striking.

Yellow is the color of royalty in Southeast Asia (the standard of the King of Thailand and the King of Malaysia are both yellow). The crescent represents Islam, the official religion of Brunei and the parasol represents the monarchy. The words on the crest mean "Always render service with God's guidance" in Arabic.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China)

Tibet is not actually a sovereign nation since its invasion and annexation by China in 1951. China banned the Tibetan flag, but it is still used by the Dalai Lama's Tibetan government-in-exile. While sympathetic to Tibet's cause, I do recognize that it is currently a part of China. The flag now not only represents the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, but also the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan diaspora, and the Free Tibet movement as a whole. Needless to say, it's controversial within China. I was hesitant to include the flag of a current government-in-exile rather than that of a sovereign state, but the Tibetan flag is so beautiful and evocative that I decided to go with it anyway.

The flag shows two snow lions, the national symbols of Tibet, standing before a Himalayan mountain with the sun glowing overhead. It's rich in symbolism, but it's honestly also just interesting to look at.

Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal

Nepal's flag is the only national flag in the world that is non-quadrilateral. That alone was enough to earn it a spot on my list. The flag was developed throughout the 19th century, and was originally two separate pennants, each representing one of the two branches of the Royal Family. Although Nepal is no longer a monarchy (it was, until 2008, the world's only Hindu Kingdom) the republic retained the traditional flag. The two pennants are also said to stand for the two main religions in Nepal: Hinduism and Buddhism.

The two pennants were eventually merged into one flag with the official ratio of:

(seriously, that's the official ratio of the flag)

The two symbols on the flag represent the moon and sun. The moon represents peace, calm demeanor and purity of spirit, and the cold of the Himalayas. The sun represents hard work, fierce resolve, and the high temperatures of the Nepali lowlands.

How could I not choose this flag?

British Indian Ocean Territory

The BIOT... I didn't really know where to put this one. The territory itself is not exactly in Asia. It's way out in the ocean, about halfway between Indonesia and Tanzania, but it's such a cool flag that I had to include it somewhere.

I'm a sucker for flags that use the Union Jack with an interesting field (not just the standard blue or red field with the crest like so many British territories use). The flag is one of the very few British overseas territories that actually has a unique flag, and it's just so representative of the territory itself. I mean, just looking at it puts you in the tropics, doesn't it? Besides, it also really looks a lot like my coat of arms, so that's a big plus in my book as well.

Interested in more flags? Stay tuned tomorrow as we move further south towards Oceanaia and Australasia! There's a lot more down there than just Australia, New Zealand, and a bunch of British island territories (though there are plenty of those).