Origins
During the reign of Emperor Gia Long (1802–1820), the yellow flag was also used as the symbol of the Empire of Vietnam. This was continued as the Emperor's flag when the Court of Hue became a French protectorate.
In 1890, the Emperor Thành Thái issued a decree, adopting the yellow flag with three red stripes for the first time as the national flag (Đại Nam (National Flag) 1890-1920). Some claim this flag (called The Yellow Flag for short) is the first true "national flag" of the Vietnamese people for it reflects the aspiration and hope of the people, not just the emperors, for independence and unification of the Viet nation.
After the deportation and exile of the Emperors Thành Thái and Duy Tân, the new pro-French ruler Khải Định chose to change the imperial flag, replacing the three strips which signified the three regions of Vietnam (North, Central, and South) with a single horizontal band of red. Formally known as the "Long Tinh", the flag was the official flag of the Nguyễn Court.
In 1945 with the French ousted by Japan, Prime Minister Trần Trọng Kim of the newly restored Empire of Vietnam adopted another variant of the yellow flag. It included three red bands but the middle band was broken to form the Quẻ Ly Flag. Derived from the trigrams, Quẻ Ly is the sixth of the Bát Quái (the Eight Trigrams - (Ba gua) in I Ching): Càn, Khâm, Cấn, Chấn, Tốn, Ly, Khôn, Đoài. It was chosen to symbolize the "fabulous unicorn", the sun, fire, light, and civilization. And most importantly, it represents the southern lands, that is Vietnam. This flag was used briefly from June to August 1945 when Emperor Bảo Đại abdicated.
On 2 June 1948, the Chief of the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam, Brigadier General Nguyen Van Xuan, signed the decree with the specifications for the Vietnamese National Flag as follows: "The national emblem is a flag of yellow background, the height of which is equal to two-thirds of its width. In the middle of the flag and along its entire width, there are three horizontal red bands. Each band has a height equal to one-fifteenth of the width. These three red bands are separated from one another by a space of the band's height." When the former Emperor Bảo Đại was made chief of state in 1949, this design was adopted as the flag of the State of Vietnam.
The three red bands have the divination sign of Quẻ Càn (乾), the first of the Eight Trigrams mentioned above. Quẻ Càn represents heaven. Based on the traditional worldview of the Vietnamese people, Quẻ Càn also denotes the South, the Vietnamese Nation, Vietnamese people, and the people's power. Another interpretation places the three red bands as symbols of the three regions of Vietnam: North, Central, and South.
With the foundation of the republic in 1955, the flag was adopted by the successor state, the Republic of Vietnam (more commonly known as South Vietnam). It was the national flag for the entire duration of that state's existence (1955–1975) from the First Republic to the Second Republic. With the capitulation of Saigon on April 30, 1975, the Republic of Vietnam came to an end and the flag ceased to exist as a national symbol.
Read more about this topic: Flag Of South Vietnam
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