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
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).
The term "Hui" (回) presently refers specifically to the Hui people, but before the establishment of the People's Republic of China, it was used to refer to Muslims in China as a whole regardless of ethnicity,[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.
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.
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]
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.
^ abcFitzgerald, John (1998). Awakening China: Politics, Culture, and Class in the Nationalist Revolution. Stanford University Press. p. 180. ISBN0-8047-3337-6.
^"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