Blue Sky with a White Sun

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Flag ratio: 2:3
The "Blue Sky with a White Sun" flag is the Kuomintang (KMT) party flag and the ROC naval jack.

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: "little shi") and symbolizes the spirit of progress.

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.

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.

National Emblem of the Republic of China

Party Emblem of the Kuomintang

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.

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.

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 and copyright laws 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 (DPP) 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 has taken no action since the initial statement.