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Chinese Soviet Republic

Overview
Communist Chinese Soviet Republic 1930's
The Flag used between 1931 and 1934
The Flag adopted in 1934
Chinese Soviet Republic War Flag (1932-1934)

Overview

The Chinese Soviet Republic (simplified Chinese: 中华苏维埃共和国; traditional Chinese: 中華蘇維埃共和國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Sūwéi'āi Gònghéguó), also translated as the Soviet Republic of China or the China Soviet Republic, and often referred to in historical literature as the Jiangxi Soviet (after its largest component territory the Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet, seat of its central government), was a state established in November 1931 by the future Communist Party of China leader Mao Zedong, legendary general Zhu De and others. Its other, discontiguous territories were:
a.. Northeastern Jiangxi Soviet
b.. Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet
c.. Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Soviet
d.. Hunan-Western Hubei Soviet
e.. Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Soviet
f.. Shaanxi-Gansu Soviet
g.. Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet
h.. Honghu Soviet
(Haifeng-Lufeng Soviet in eastern Guangdong, China's first Soviet territory, had been crushed before the declaration of the CSR and is considered more a predecessor than a constituent part).
Mao Zedong was CSR State Chair and Prime Minister - at once the Head of the State and of its Government. It was from this "small state within a state" that he gained the experience in Mobile Warfare and peasant organization that he later used to accomplish the Communist conquest of China in the late 1940s.
The CSR was destroyed by the Kuomintang (KMT)'s National Revolutionary Army in a series of Encirclement Campaigns eventually designed by the German general Hans von Seeckt.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 04 December 2009

Communist Chinese Soviet Republic 1930's

image by Poon Tat Ming William, 24 February 2013

1930's Communist Chinese Soviet Republic,
Source: http://www.ebay.com/soc/itm/150996847135
Poon Tat Ming William, 24 February 2013

The Flag used between 1931 and 1934

image by Jaume Ollé

In the Twenties the Chinese communists proclaimed a Soviet republic in Kiangsi. A flag was hoisted. The left sign means: "Communist", the right one: "Chinese". Source: Michel Lupant (through A. Chang). Another pattern is shown in Flags Through The Ages And Across The World by W. Smith.
Jaume Ollé, 1 March 1997

I am currently trying to figure out the actual flag(s) of the Chinese soviet republic (1931-1937). I wonder if you could give me a hand on this one.
Apparently the first flag was this one : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_soviet_flag.svg
I'm trying to figure out the use of this one : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Chinese_Soviet_Republic.svg
However, I have a hunch that it could have been adopted in 1935, after the fall of the Soviet Jiangxi, when the soviet government relocated to the Soviet Shaanxi after the Long march (which means that the first one was abandoned circa 1934), and was therefore the state's final flag. Am I right ?
Any idea of where the "axe and sickle" (instead of hammer and sickle) symbol comes from ?
It does look a lot (hence my deduction) like this one : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Army_flag.jpg which is apparently the war flag (of the Chinese red army), adopted in 1935 (?).
According to the description on commons, this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_soviet_emblem1.gif is the flag of the Communist party's central committee in the Chinese soviet republic.
Do you know what are this one : http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_Soviet_Republic_flag4.jpg this one: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_Soviet_Republic_flag3.jpg
and this one ? : http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_Soviet_Republic_flag2.jpg are they specific soviet territories ?
Do you know when this war flag was adopted, and when it was abandoned ? : http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cn-sovrp.gif
I could really use your expertise on the subject, as this is a bit messy.
JJ Georges, 17 September 2009

Chinese Soviet Republic flag 1931-36, this version is not as elaborate as the seal on flag version on FOTW from photo of flag: http://www.xztc.edu.cn/mzd/photo/tu/191311.jpg
See wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Soviet_Republic
Ben Cahoon, 06 June 2013

I spy with my little eye. Or rather, I don't. I hardly spy any of the details from the drawing in the photograph. Does anyone at least know what Ben is comparing it with, so we can see whether we maybe can get a two out of three on some of the details?
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 15 June 2013

I think you can see the faint outline of the image the problem is that the flag was red and the photo black and white. You can see the flag in the upper left. The hammer and sickle on a white circle and you can partly make out braids around the white. Perhaps a better image from the period will show more details, but I think the Chinese wiki image is a good reconstruction. The main point here is that this flag is not as elaborate as the Chinese Soviet Republic flag show on FOTW.
Ben Cahoon, 26 June 2013

I can't see it, but then, the author of this image doesn't claim it is a flag, just that he used it to correct his image. That in itself is kind of odd, because his correction seems to bring it further from his source. (But then, my Chinese is worse than my Japanese.)
I can indeed see that emblem. But as I said, most of the details shown in the drawing, I can't make out on the photograph. As far as I'm concerned, it might as well be a different flag (if it is one).
Well, that point I can't agree with. Not that I disagree, but that the only Chinese Soviet Republic flags on FotW, and they're not elaborate at all. Hence my question if anyone knew what image on FotW you're comparing the Wikimedia Commons image with.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 26 June 2013

It was not of FOTW that I saw the original image but on Robert Breschi's site.

I just found this link showing 5 different flags of the Chinese Soviet Republic era, which is where these 2 other flags came from:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_Soviet_Republic_flag3.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_Soviet_Republic_flag2.jpg
Also since this link says the flag and emblem of the Chinese Soviet Rep. were adopted in March 1934, there is a chance that 1931-1934 a different flag was used. Possibly the flag at FOTW now was the first (?) flag. But the language (or google translation is confusing, maybe the source of the conufsion). It gives the emblem (seal) and two flags:
"(Two) flag is red background, horizontal as five feet to three feet six inches straight, plus national emblem on its flag pattern is white. (three) flag is red background, horizontal as five feet to three feet six inches straight, cross the yellow hammer, sickle, a yellow five-pointed star on the right corner, flag pattern is white."
Ben Cahoon, 27 June 2013

Right, the white disk version is would then be an earlier version, and the disk-less version a later one.
Looks like several articles of a decision. Article 2 says the national flag is a red 7:10 flag with a national emblem on a white background(?).
Article 3 says the war(?) flag is a red 7:10 flag with yellow crossed hammer and sickle and a yellow five-pointed star in the right corner. on a white background(??).
Considering the "on a white background" for the war flag follows after the full stop, I'd go for a writing or copying error there. If the crossed hammer and sickle with a star as a whole are placed in the right=dexter (top) corner, this would match the flag we have, except for the characters.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 08 July 2013

The Flag adopted in 1934

image by Poon Tat Ming William, 24 February 2013

Flag of Chinese Soviet Republic 1931-1937 Communist Red China Ensign USSR 3X5ft
Source: http://www.ebay.com/soc/itm/150996847090
Poon Tat Ming William, 24 February 2013

image by Jaume Ollé, 01 March 2014

Chinese Soviet Republic adopted its national flag and war flag at the 2nd National People's Congress held during January 22nd-February 1st 1934.
The national flag is a red field charged with national emblem in the center which is composed of yellow crossed a hammer and a sickle on globe surrounded with yellow wheat wreath and a yellow five pointed star above it.
Source: Atlas of Flags in China 2003 & History of Chinese War Flags 2010
Nozomi Kariyasu, 01 March 2014

Chinese Soviet Republic War Flag (1932-1934)

image by Jaume Ollé, 04 December 2009

The Chinese Soviet Republic was the first communist controlled government in China. It was proclaimed 3 January 1932 in Kiangsi and was overthrown by Chiang Kai-shek on 10 November 1934. The Chinese Communist Party adopted their own War Flag in 1935, which was red bearing a large 5-pointed white star in the center upon which was a *black* hammer and sickle of the Russian-soviet type. It was abandoned in late 1937 when the communists joined with the nationalists to fight the Japanese. I am not aware that the Communist Party of China (CPC) adopted any other distinctive flags subsequent to WWII and 1949. The Chinese Red Army, on the other hand adopted a red banner with a single yellow star in the canton after the Japanese defeat, during the struggle for control of China with the Nationalists. I am not sure when, but at some point, and I think it was after 1949, the numerals 8 and 1 were added to the army flag, standing for the date of its founding, 1 August 1928.
David Martucci, 1997-February-25

The red flag charged with yellow star in canton and yellow hammer and sickle in the center.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 04 December 2009

Variant of flag
image by Jaume Ollé, 04 December 2009

The war flag is a red field charged with yellow crossed a hammer and a sickle and yellow five pointed star in the canton.
Source: Atlas of Flags in China 2003 & History of Chinese War Flags 2010
Nozomi Kariyasu, 01 March 2014