I.

The flag of Vietnam

Like USA, Vietnam also has a national flag which affirm its independence,
sovereign, unity and territorial integrity.

I.1 Origin

The first Vietnamese flag was of the Tay Song Dynasty in 1778. They had a
red flag with a yellow border and a yellow disc at the center. The Nguyen
dynasty, under emperor Gia Long, took over from 1802 to 1820 and the flag
changed to yellow with a blue border and a red sun at the centre. In 1890,
Emperor Thanh Thai designed the South Vietnam flag. This was the original
design, later adapted by Le Van De and by Emperor Bao Dai. It had a yellow
background with three red horizontal stripes.

The French traders started arriving in Vietnam from 1615 and in the process,
began spreading Christianity. The Vietnamese Kingdom detained several of
them, and in 1834, the French Navy intervened to free them. The French
invasion into Vietnam began then, and by 1884, Vietnam was completely under
French rule. Annam, Tonkin, and Cochinchina represented the central, north
and south Vietnam and integrated into the French Indochina union in 1887. The
flag, which the Cochinchina had adopted before, was a blue-white-red vertical
tricolor.

In 1920, the Nguyen dynasty changed its flag to a thick red vertical stripe,
running through a yellow background. French Indochina started flying the
Protectorate flag too in 1023. It had the French tricolor flag at the top left corner
of a yellow background.In 1940, Japan invaded Vietnam and their flag, a red
sun on a white background, flew for a short time. The japanese conquered the
Empire of Vietnam and adopted a yellow flag with three red horizontal
stripes( with the center horizontal stripe broken). This flag flew under emperor
Bao Dai’s reign. The three stripes were a representation of the Quang Tri gram
or Que Can, a heaven divination sign. They later represented the north, south
and central regions of Vietnam.

In 1941, Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese revolutionary leader, led to the nationalist

liberation movement calls Viet Minh. They had a communist ideology and were
seeing the independence of Vietnam from both the French and the Japanese.
They adopted a flag with a massive yellow pointed star on a red background in
1945. The flag, according to articles by Son Tung, was designed by Nguyen
Huu Tien, one of the uprising leaders just before he was executed in 1941 by the
French people .

The Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II and Ho Chi Minh, the Viet
Minh leader, declared Vietnam dependent in Hanoi. He adopted the yellow
background and five-pointed star flag by decree. It became the official flag of
North Vietnam.

The French returned in October, 1945 but received challenges from the Viet
Minh. Later, Corchinchina was declared a republic and in 1946, adopted a Que
Can flag that had a yellow background and blue stripes. On March 1946, the
National Assemby voted to keep the Viet Minh flag, and after the Genvera
Accord between France and Vietnam in 1954, the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam became the national government.

The flag was modified on November 30, 1955, making the star slightly smaller
with straighter edges. After the end of the Vietnam war, the South adopted the
flag which later led to the unification of the North and South. On July2, 1976,
the two became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

I.2 Characteristics

I.2.1 Colour

There are two colour: red and white

I.2.2 Design

According to the 1992 constitution: "The National Flag of the Socialist

Republic of Vietnam is rectangular in shape, its width is equal to two thirds of
its length, in the middle of fresh red background is a bright five-pointed golden
star".

Mid-point gold star placed right middle point( point of intersection of the two
diagonals) National flag.

The distance from the point between the stars to the top of the wing equal to
one-fifth the length of the National flag.
I.2.3 Symbolism

The gold five –pointed star symbolizes the five group of workers in the
building of socialism including : intellectuals, peasants, soldiers ,workers and
youths.

The red symbolizes bloodshed, and the revolutionary struggle.

II.2.2.3 A few locations where the Vietnam flag is flown 24 hours a day

-The Headquarters of Government, President, Parliament.

-Mausoleum of president Ho Chi Minh.
-People’s Court supreme, people’s procuracy of the supreme.
-The Ministry of Foreign affairs, the Vietnamese embassy in the countries.
-Bolder gate.