The Chinese designed a national flag for North Korea with 8 Chinese characters on it. Is South Korea still using it today?
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Korean Peninsula had always been a vassal state of China. Their national policies and the enthronement of the king required the permission of the Chinese emperor. Nowadays, Koreans often claim that certain things are Korean. In fact, many things in Korea actually come from China, let alone others. The current national flag of South Korea, "Taegeukgi", was also designed by Chinese officials during the Qing Dynasty! It is estimated that those radical nationalists in South Korea know that their national flag was also designed by the Chinese, and they will probably vomit blood with anger: Why can't they avoid China?
It is said that North Korea, like China, did not have its own national flag at the time. Later, the Qing Dynasty designed a "Yellow Dragon Flag" in order to communicate with Western countries. Because North Korea is a vassal state of China, it cannot create its own national flag privately. Therefore, North Korea used the Huanglong flag of the Qing Dynasty in external places at that time. Li Hongzhang also specially set a rule for North Korea: the Yellow Dragon flag used by North Korea should be decorated with auspicious cloud patterns to distinguish it from the national flag of the Qing Dynasty. In 1882, the Qing Dynasty assisted North Korea in signing a treaty with the United States. On such international occasions, it was necessary to raise the national flag. North Korea did not want to continue to use the Huanglong flag, so it asked Ma Jianzhong, an employee of the Qing Dynasty, to design another national flag for North Korea.
Ma Jianzhong designed a national flag for North Korea based on the traditional Chinese Five Elements and Bagua. It was painted in blue, red and white with Tai Chi Liang Yi and Bagua patterns. This is the prototype of the current South Korean flag. . However, North Korea at that time was a vassal state of China after all, so their national flag also had eight Chinese characters written on it: "The flag of the Qing Dynasty belongs to Korea." Later, the King of Korea further improved the national flag designed by Ma Jianzhong, removing the four hexagrams in the Bagua and retaining only the four hexagrams Qian, Kun, Kan and Li. The red and blue Tai Chi Liang Yi pattern in the middle constituted the national flag. In 1883, the Joseon Dynasty decided to use the Taegeuk Flag as its national flag. Li Hongzhang also agreed to this flag, but asked them to add the words "the national flag of Korea under the Qing Dynasty".
When the Korean Empire was established in 1897, the Taegeukgi remained the national flag. In 1910, Japan annexed the Korean Peninsula and banned their use of the Taegeukgi. At this time, the Taegeuk flag became a symbol of Korea's resistance to Japanese colonial rule. The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, established in Shanghai, China in 1919, still used the Taegeuk flag.
After the victory of World War II, the Korean peninsula was divided. South Korea (South Korea) continued to use the Taigeuk flag, while North Korea also used the Taichi pattern logo for a long time. In 1948, in order to distinguish it from South Korea, North Korea The Taegeuk flag was abolished. It can also be seen from here that Tai Chi patterns have long been deeply rooted in the hearts of ordinary people on the Korean Peninsula. Nowadays, Tai Chi patterns can be seen in various Korean logos. There are also Tai Chi patterns on the Korean naval flag. The Korean national football team is also called the "Tai Chi Tigers." The Tai Chi pattern, which was born in China, has become a symbol of the Korean nation. symbol.