I'm back with more flags!
I'm still stuck indoors in Thailand. Even though we are almost totally COVID-19-free, the lockdowns remain in place for a little while longer. I think it's wise, but it really doesn't give me much to write about these days. Last month I wrote a series on vexillology - that is, the study of flags. Today I'm back with a new vexillology post. This time, I'm going to be writing about flags of former countries. Most of these flags are from Asian countries. I guess the old Asian countries just chose some of the more creative flag designs which I really liked!
Great Qing Empire (China)
The flag of Imperial China's last dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, flew over the country from 1634 until 1912 when the imperial government was overthrown by the KMT and the Republic of China (which now governs only the island of Taiwan).
The flag of Qing China featured the Azure Dragon (also known as the Dragon God, and one of the four imperial symbols of China) against a field of Chinese Imperial Yellow. Mustard Yellow was the official imperial color of the Manchu people, and subsequently became viewed across Asia as a color of royalty and imperial power.
I like this flag for the same reason that I like the flag of Bhutan... it's got a dragon on it! That's just super cool!
State of Manchukuo (Manchuria)
After China fell to the forces of the Republic of China, the Qing Emperor was installed as the Emperor of Manchukuo (also known as Manchuria), a Japanese puppet state in northeastern China that lasted from 1932 until 1945 (although a Manchukuo Government-in-Exile still exists). The flag maintained the imperial yellow field, but the canton was created bearing five bold colorful bars. The five colors of the flag symbolized country's national philosophy of the "five nations under one union".
Yellow represented the ruling Manchu people
Red = the Japanese people living in Manchuria
Blue = the Han Chinese
White = the Mongolian people
Black = the Korean people
Despite being a semi-colonial Japanese puppet state, Manchuria was actually a remarkable example of ethnic diversity in an otherwise extremely divisive region. The flag represents a beautiful ideology, and the idea of the "five nations" was echoed in the subsequent flags of the early Republic of China and the short-lived Chinese Empire (restoration).
West Indies Federation
The West Indies Federation was a short-lived union of several Caribbean territories of the UK that existed between 1958 and 1962. The purpose of the union was to establish a unified Commonwealth entity similar to that of Canada or Australia, although internal politics caused its swift dissolution. The country was made up of territories today encompassing: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, Anguilla, Montserrat, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Today, all of the aforementioned territories remain independent entities.
The union may have been doomed from the start, but the flag featured a truly beautiful design which represented the golden tropical sun reflecting off of Caribbean waves. The flag was even flown at the 1960 Olympics, although the union dissolved before it could truly become a regional power.
Republic of (South) Vietnam
The flag of South Vietnam was designed by Vietnamese Emperor Gia Long in 1890 to fly over the Empire of Vietnam. After the Vietnamese Empire fell, the same flag was used as the flag of the unified State of Vietnam from 1949 until the breakaway of Communist North Vietnam in 1955. It was subsequently used by South Vietnam until its collapse in 1975. Needless to say, this simple yellow and red flag is steeped in history, having represented three distinct Vietnamese states.
The flag is still flown by the Vietnamese diaspora, especially those who oppose the current Communist regime, and I've even seen it flying myself over the Vietnamese supermarket in my hometown in Texas! Today, it's seen as a symbol of the Vietnamese people who currently live in exile in the United States.
The old Vietnamese flag's field of gold represents Imperial power, similar to those flags of Manchuria and China. The three red stripes represents the three distinct political, geographical, and cultural regions of Vietnam: North, Central, and South. The triple bar in the flag also serves as a stylized Chinese character "☰", which means "South" (south of China, that is. The ☰ symbol historically served as the Chinese name of Vietnam).
The flags symbolism and history, as well as the powerful meaning that it represents earns it a spot on this list. In my home state of Texas, Vietnamese is the third-most spoken native language (after English and Spanish, of course). It no longer represents a recognized country, however this flag still holds a really important place in the culture of the Vietnamese diaspora.
Left: Flag of the Empire of Vietnam (Japanese puppet state; 1945)
Right: Flag of the Chochinchina Autonomous Republic (temporary predecessor state to South Vietnam; 1946)
Kingdom of Siam (Thailand)
I've said many times that Thailand shouldn't have changed its flag. The current flag is great, but the old flag had an elephant on it! Thailand's current red, white, and blue flag was adopted in 1917, many years before the kingdom changed its name to "Thailand" in 1939 during the country's push towards westernization.
Although the flag was changed to its now-iconic symbol of Thailand, the original elephant flag of Siam was a beautiful, unique, and exotic ensign. I'm a huge fan of the old Siamese flag, and I even have a t-shirt with this design printed on it which I'm quite fond of wearing. It's more unique than the current Thai flag (which, again, is still a great flag), and I kind of wish I could see the elephant flying more often. The Siamese elephant does, however, appear occasionally as part of the Thai naval ensign which still flies over the Navy HQ and various naval ships throughout Thailand as well as the diplomatic ensign which flies over Thai embassies and consulates worldwide.
Ambassadorial flag of Thailand (left); Naval Ensign of Thailand (right).
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