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Five Races Under One Union

This article is about the political principle of the Republic of China. For the similarly-named principle adopted by Manchukuo, see Five Races Under One Union (Manchukuo).

Five Races Under One Union was one of the major principles upon which the Republic of China was founded following the 1911 Revolution.[1][2][3][4] Its central tenet was the harmonious existence under one nation of what were considered the five major ethnic groups in China: the Han, the Manchu, the Mongols, the Hui (Muslims), and the Tibetans.[5]

Five Races Under One Union
The center flag is the Five-Colored Flag of the Republic of China. Underneath the three flags is the message: "Long live the union" (共和萬歲).
Chinese五族共和
Literal meaningfive-race republic
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinwǔzú gònghé
Wade–Gileswǔ-tsú kùng-hé
Yale Romanizationwǔdzú gùnghé
IPA[ùtsǔ kʊ̂ŋxɤ̌]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanizationngh juhk guhng wòh
Jyutpingng5 zuk6 gung6 wo4
IPA[ŋ̬̍ tsʊ̀k kʊ̀ŋ wɔ̏ː]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJgō͘ cho̍k kiōng-hô
Republic of China
"Five-Colored Flag" (五色旗; Wǔsèqí)
UseCivil and state flag Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag
Proportion5:8
Adopted10 January 1912
DesignFive horizontal bands of red, yellow, blue, white and black.

Description

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This principle emphasized harmony between what were considered the five major ethnic groups in China, as represented by the colored stripes of the Five-Colored Flag of the Republic: the Han (red); the Manchus (yellow); the Mongols (blue); the Hui (white); and the Tibetans (black).[6]

The term "Hui" (回) presently refers specifically to the Hui people. Previously, it was used to refer to Muslims as a whole,[7] or to the Uyghurs of Western China. The term "Muslim Territory" (回疆; Huíjiāng) was an older name for Xinjiang during the Qing dynasty.[8] The meaning of the term "Hui" gradually shifted to its current sense during the first half of the 20th century.

 
Color scheme 		Red Yellow Blue White Black
Pantone 2347 C 7548 C 307 C White Color Black Color
CMYK 0-88-92-13 0-22-100-0 99-37-0-38 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-100
HEX #DF1B12 #FFC600 #02639D #FFFFFF #000000
RGB 223-27-18 255-198-0 2-99-157 255-255-255 0-0-0
Chinese ethnic group represented Han Manchus Mongols Muslims Tibetans

History

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Records from the Sui dynasty show a system of military banners using the five colors to represent the Five Elements: red for fire, yellow for earth, blue for wood, white for metal, and black for water. The Tang dynasty inherited this system, and has arranged the colors in a united flag according to the above order of the elements, for military use. During the Liao and Song periods, paintings depict the Khitan people using the same flag design. During the reign of the Mongol Yuan dynasty the five colors began to symbolize ethnicities (五色四夷) in a multi-ethnic state. In later historical periods, this "flag of the five united elements" was altered and re-adapted for military and official uses. A Qing-era painting depicting the victory of the Banners over the Muslim Du Wenxiu rebellion in Yunnan, includes a Qing military flag with the five elements arranged in the order of yellow, white, black, green and red.

 
Painting of the Qing army facing the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan. The Qing military used a five-color flag.

After the Wuchang uprising, the Qing dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China. Prior to the adoption of the five-colored flag by the Republic, several different flags were promoted by the revolutionaries. For example, the military units of Wuchang wanted a 9-star flag featuring a taijitu,[6] while Sun Yat-sen preferred the Blue Sky and White Sun flag to honor Lu Haodong.[6]

 
The Nanjing Road following the Shanghai Uprising, with the Five Races Under One Union flags used by the revolutionaries on display

Despite the uprisings targeting a Manchu-dominated regime, Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren and Huang Xing unanimously advocated racial integration, which was symbolized by the five-color flag.[9] They promoted a view of the non-Han ethnicities as also being Chinese, despite them being a relatively small percentage of the population.[10]

The "five ethnic groups under one union" flag was no longer used after the Northern Expedition ended in 1928.

A variation of this flag was adopted by Yuan Shikai's empire and the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. In Manchukuo, a similar slogan was used, but the five races it represented were the Yamato (red), Han (blue), Mongols (white), Koreans (black) and Manchus (yellow). Some of its own variations also made the yellow more prominent, rather than display each color equally.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the flag was used by several Japanese puppet governments, including the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in the northern part of the country and the Reformed Government of the Republic of China in Central China.

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China

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  •  
    National flag, 1912–1928 (used again by the Provisional Government 1937–1940, Reformed Government 1938–1940)
  •  
    Beiyang Army insignia, 1912–1928
  •  
    National flag of the Empire of China, 1915–1916
  •  
    Air force roundel, 1920–1921
  •  
    Commander-in-chief flag of the Republic of China (Beiyang Government), 1927–1928
  •  
    Reformed Government Army insignia, 1938–1940
  •  
    One of the proposed national flags of the People's Republic of China, August 1949

Manchukuo

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Inner Mongolia ("four races")

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Murray A. Rubinstein (1994). Murray A. Rubinstein (ed.). The Other Taiwan: 1945 to the present (illustrated ed.). M.E. Sharpe. p. 416. ISBN 1-56324-193-5. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  2. ^ James A. Millward (2007). Eurasian crossroads: a history of Xinjiang (illustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-231-13924-3. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  3. ^ Clyde, Paul Hibbert; Beers, Burton F. (1971). The Far East: a history of the Western impact and the Eastern response (1830–1970) (5, illustrated ed.). Prentice-Hall. p. 409. ISBN 9780133029765. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  4. ^ Making of America Project (1949). Harper's magazine, Volume 198. Harper's Magazine Co. p. 104. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
  5. ^ Young, Louise (July 2017). "When fascism met empire in Japanese-occupied Manchuria". Journal of Global History. 12 (2). Cambridge University Press: 274–296. doi:10.1017/S1740022817000080. S2CID 164753522 – via CambridgeCore.
  6. ^ a b c Fitzgerald, John (1998). Awakening China: Politics, Culture, and Class in the Nationalist Revolution. Stanford University Press. p. 180. ISBN 0-8047-3337-6.
  7. ^ "China's Islamic Heritage". 5 March 2006. The Nationalist government had recognised all Muslims as one of "the five peoples"—alongside the Manchus, Mongols, Tibetans and Han Chinese—that constituted the Republic of China
  8. ^ Suisheng Zhao (2004). A nation-state by construction: dynamics of modern Chinese nationalism (illustrated ed.). Stanford University Press. p. 171. ISBN 0-8047-5001-7. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
  9. ^ Hsiao-ting Lin. [2010] (2010). Modern China's ethnic frontiers: a journey to the west. Taylor & Francis publishing. ISBN 0-415-58264-4, ISBN 978-0-415-58264-3. pg 7.
  10. ^ Chow, Peter C. Y. [2008] (2008). The "one China" dilemma. Macmillan publishing. ISBN 1-4039-8394-1, ISBN 978-1-4039-8394-7. pg 31.
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