To be precise, this is not the flag of Manchuria. It is the flag of Manchukuo, which was a Japanese puppet state in Manchuria. We like this flag because it looks like a flag within a flag.
Every source seems to agree that the field is "mustard" yellow, which is an unusual description for official sources (not for us! We love us some condiment flags).
What this flag really is, is the flag of the Republic of China, which we thought we'd written about before, but apparently we did not. Not THAT flag of the Republic of China! The one that lasted all of 16 years, from 1912-1928.
This is called the Five Races Under One Union flag, which is not a very catchy name for a flag. The colors represent the five races: Han, Manchu, Mongol, Hui (Muslim), and Tibetan. The manchu are represented by yellow, hence the Manchukuo Empire flag having a yellow field with the other colors condensed and shoved to the side in a puny canton. It's a nice gesture, though. But I'm pretty sure the original Five Races Under One Union flag designers didn't stipulate "The Han should be red, the Tibetans should be black, the Manchu should be yellow, but like, not normal yellow, they should be mustard yellow"... you know?
And then of course, in addition to the colors representing different people in the region, there's always gonna be the guy who's all "yellow represents unity". But what we're asking, is, SINCE WHEN? But, just to continue on *that guy's* lunatic mission of symbolism, red is bravery, blue is justice (!?), white is purity (yeah, ok), and black is determination. What.Ever.
What really caught my eye wasn't actually the Manchukuo flag, though, it was the movement for Autonomous Manchuria flag:
I think we can all agree that this doubles as a paean to those layered licorice squares.
Candy Flag takes gold! (Or ustard yellow, depending on how you look at things.)
