Earliest flags in China and their symbolism in written material
(a hand-out; Flag Institute Spring Meeting (15th May, 2010), London, UK
Vladimír Liščák, Oriental Institute, Prague
In my paper I will try to bring you closer to the earliest history of flags in the territory of China. The
evidence of the fact that in China some kinds of flags or banners have been in use since the earliest
history of the state can be documented from the earliest inscriptions on the oracle bones and
bronzes (between 14th and 5th centuries BC). But the earliest use of banners in China refers to the
mythological times, as recorded in the classical books. According these texts already the Yellow Emperor (Huang Di), a mythical ancestor of the Chinese nation, has used some kind of a banner. It was
ornamented with four kinds of diurnal birds of prey or raptors: a mythical bird he (a kind of falcon),
an eagle, a kite (hawk or glede) and a falcon. Also standards of some mythical tribes are mentioned in
Chinese classics.
James C. H. Hsu says in his The Written Word in Ancient China (Hong Kong 1996, p. 838): "The banner
was very important in ancient times. The place where the banner was set up indicated the place
where the tribe was stationed. The banner was often raised high in the air, so that everyone could see
it, and usually accompanied the commander into battle (...). The people of many tribes built their
villages in the shape of a square or a circle in order to emphasize the fact that they were of the same
blood and shared community and defensive concerns. … All the houses in a circular village faced inwards towards the large building used for gatherings which was built in the centre. The banner was
usually set up near it. Therefore, the oracle bone graph    (modern character 中 "center",
"middle") shows a place marked with a pole, which may or may not have had banners attached to it
  , indicating a certain area with a banner pole at the centre. In some oracle bone inscriptions there are divinations made by the king in which he asks whether there will be a strong wind on
the day when he establishes "the centre", no doubt the place where the banner would be set up. From
this we know how important the place was where the banner was set up and that this practice
strongly reflected earlier tribal organization. "
Wang Hongyuan says in his The Origins of Chinese Characters (1993) about the character of 中:
"Drawing of a pole with some decorative streamers (remember:   ). The pole was placed in
the center of a circle or dial so that a shadow cast by the sun on a calibrated dial could measure solar
time - much like the gnomon or style of a sundial." (Wang Hongyuan 王宏源, The Origins of Chinese
Characters ("漢字字源入門"), p. 195)
The earliest Chinese inscriptions preserved until now came back to the 14th century BC. Chinese
characters have, from their first known forms, basically two component parts: 1) the determinant
(which determinants the meaning) and 2) the phonetic component indicating the pronunciation of
the character.
The determinant of the Chinese characters connected somehow with flags, banners etc. is, already
since the earliest written material, the character 㫃 (as a component of other characters:
) with
the meaning of flags flying, long bands or ribbons attached to flags, streamers, etc. (I will not mention the pronunciation of the Chinese characters, because it is modern and of no information for you.)
The original form of this character on the oracle bones inscriptions was
. It is the picture of a flag
or banner. There are many characters which carry the flag component and have meanings which
refer to war or tribes (as I will mention later). The reconstruction of a basic form of flag or banner
from these times was published more then 20 years ago in Wenwu (Cultural Relics), a Chinese scientific journal.
Here you can see basic components of this ancient banner:
干(幹) – flagpole or staff topped with a metal trident
旄 – decorations with animal hair or feathers
弧 – literary “an arc” or a “bow”; here it means a crossbar
旆 – a swallowtail pennon or streamer
斿 ribbons
縿 a bordered field of a flag
1) The flagpole might come out from the original lance with decorations, which may indicate
the trident on the top. There were small ringlets with horsehairs, feathers or animal hair attached to the trident. One of these early tridents is exhibited in the museum of Luoyang. It is
20 cm high, 16 cm wide and its weight is about 0.5 kg. The height of flagpole was based on
the hierarchy of its owner.
This pole with trident is seen in many early pictograms on the bronzes:
2) In the upper part of the banner there was a vertically bamboo crossbar for the tension of the
flag field (like in some European mediaeval banners). In Chinese terminology it was named
“arc” or “bow”, maybe for its similar function.
3) The bordered field of the flag was attached abeam of the pole. The colour of the flag was determined according to the rank (some details I will mention later). The field of banner of the
king had the national colour, which was for example red under the Zhou dynasty (11th – 3rd
century BC).
4) There were several ribbons attached to the fly – their number and colour was determined by
the position and rank: the banner of king had 12 ribbons of yellow colour; the number was
determined according to 12 celestial spheres. The ribbons were attached to the surface of a
flag or directly to the pole, as seen on some bronzes:
The ribbons could be also represented with stars and constellations in the field of a flag, according to the respective rank, as well.
5) The swallowtail pennon or streamer could be attached to the upper fly point, regardless of
the rank of the user. Attached it signalized the beginning of a battle. These banners were
hoisted on the chariots of the leading line.
In the classical book of the Rites of Zhou (Zhou li 周禮), which may be written in the 5th century BC or
even earlier (comparing its contents with that of the inscriptions on bronzes), strict flag prescriptions
are described. The observance of these rules was trusted on a special state official, sichang. There
were several categories of ceremonial and war banners with their own strictly hierarchy. Each category had its name – for example the banner of the king was named da chang (no matter whether a
ceremonial or war flag), higher nobility had a banner named qi etc. The higher-ranked banners were
hoisted on one of five categories of royal chariots: the banner of the king was hoisted on the so
called jade chariot, the banner of the second highest rank on the golden chariot etc.
Here are some depictions of the use of banners on war chariots, as seen on Chinese bronzes:
The topic of ancient Chinese flags is very interesting, but information hardly obtainable. My present
contribution was based on my early article for our journal VEXILOLOGIE, published in 1992.
Thank you for your attention.
SOME EXAMPLES OF CHINESE CHARACTERS WITH THE MEANINGFUL COMPONENT PART FOR
FLAGS (
):
旗 common name used now for a flag or banner, national flag etc. – classical form is
旗
(on the
oracle bones and bronzes not found)
旂 another term for flag – on the oracle bones
, on the bronzes 旂, classical form is
旃 silk banner with bent pole – on the oracle bones
, on the bronzes
旂
, classical form is
旃
旄 flag hoisted up on poles topped with a tassel made of animals hair or feathers – on the bronzes
旄, classical form is
旄
旅
for last centuries it have meant first of all “trip, journey; travel; traveller”, but the original meaning (during the Zhou dynasty) was a military unit of 500 soldiers, with the earliest form of this character indicating a group of persons under a flag: on the oracle bones , on the bronzes 旅, classical
form is
旅
斿 ribbons – on the bronzes 斿, classical form is
旋
斿
modern meaning is to circle, to whirl; originally to walk (revolve) around the flag – on the oracle
bones
, on the bronzes
, classical form is
旌 feather-decked banner – classical form is
旋
旌
斾 (a variant of 旆) a pennon; a streamer; swallow-tailed flag – classical form is
族
旆
a tribe, a clan, a family; etymology is: a flag 㫃 and an arrow 矢 are the forms of which distin-
guish a tribe – on the oracle bones , , on the bronzes 族, classical form is
旐 an embroidered pennant – classical form is
旐
旓 serrated edges or stripes on a flag
旟 a military flag or standard, a banner with falcons
㫅 (same as 旗) a flag; a pennant; a banner; a streamer, a sign
㫊 fluttering of the flag, the flags
㫋 a silken banner hanging from a staff bent over at the top
族
㫍 the scallops along the lower edge of a flag; the hanging decorations (ribbons, etc.) of a flag used
in ancient times, a kind of flag – classical form is
㫎 flags; pennants, streamers, etc., name of a flag
㫏 a kind of flag, flags; streamers – classical form is