How did you get the stars on the five-star red flag? Who knows?

The birth of the national flag of New China

Soliciting national flag design proposals

After the liberation of Nanjing in April 1949, the Communist Party of China negotiated with various democratic parties On the basis of the meeting, it was decided to hold a preparatory meeting for the new CPPCC in Peiping in June of that year to make preparations for the convening of the new CPPCC and the establishment of a democratic coalition government. On June 15, at the first meeting of the preparatory meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference chaired by Zhou Enlai, it was decided that in the name of the Political Consultative Conference, a nationwide public collection of national flags, national emblems, and national anthems would be solicited through the news media, and a selection committee would be established. , inviting Xu Beihong, Liang Sicheng, and Ai Qing to participate in the judging panel. In the "Solicitation Regulations", four requirements were clearly put forward for the design of the national flag: first, it must have Chinese characteristics (such as geography, history, ethnicity, culture, etc.); second, it must have political characteristics (led by the working class with the alliance of workers and peasants as the The basic people's democratic dictatorship); 3. The form is rectangular, with a length and breadth ratio of three to two, and it is mainly solemn and simple; 4. The color is mainly red, but other colors can be used.

The solicitation notice was published in "People's Daily", "Guangming Daily", "Xinhua Daily", "Liberation Daily" and other newspapers in mid-July. This solicitation greatly inspired hundreds of millions of Chinese people. With great patriotic enthusiasm, people from all walks of life, whether working in the art field or not, have come up with what they consider to be ideal plans with great enthusiasm, expressing their love for New China in this way. National flag and national emblem pattern: This is the most debated issue. Among the submissions, the national flag pattern is also the most common, which can be roughly divided into four categories:

1. It is a cross between sickle and hammer (some call it sickle and ax) and Those with five-pointed stars are the most popular, and many people started to agree. For example, Mr. Tan Kah Kee specially designed a Chinese-style sickle and ax pattern. He also said that China has Chinese-style sickles and axes, and they cannot be used by the Soviet Union. We don't have to. This is the best representation of the workers and farmers who founded the country. Many submissions mentioned this issue.

2. There are many images that suggest that Jiahe gear represents the alliance of workers and farmers.

3. It is proposed to use two or three colors of horizontal and vertical bars plus a sickle, an axe, a five-pointed star or a Jiahe gear.

4. Arrange five-pointed stars on the red flag, or add five-pointed stars to the red flag and add one or two yellow bars to the red flag to represent the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. There are many such patterns. Commander-in-Chief Guo Moruo and Zhu De both designed two such patterns.

After repeated research, everyone agrees that the first three categories that are not consistent with the national style cannot be used, and only the fourth category is more suitable for reference.

Check ***38 patterns, the five-star red flag is "No. 32"

Finally, there was a slight discussion on the name of the national flag, and the representatives decided to change the "red" in the proposal The local five-star flag was renamed the "five-star red flag". The designer of the five-star red flag pattern is Zeng Liansong from Shanghai. There was a sickle and ax in the big five-star in the original design, but it was deleted after discussion.

When the national flag was first selected, Xinhua News Agency explained:

The red color on the flag of the People’s Republic of China symbolizes revolution. The five five-pointed stars on the flag and their relationship symbolize the great unity of the revolutionary people under the leadership of the Communist Party. The five-pointed star is yellow to show light on the red ground. Yellow is brighter and more beautiful than white. The four small five-pointed stars Each has a tip facing the center point of the big star, which means unity around a center, and it also looks compact and beautiful in form.

Zeng Liansong, who later became the designer of the national flag of New China, was one of them.

The birth of the national flag Zeng Liansong saw the recruitment notice for the new CPPCC in the newspaper. At the time, the 32-year-old was working as a secretary at the "Modern Economic News Agency" led by the underground party. Although he knew that he was not an artist and his design might not be successful, he had a deep affection for New China and had done a lot of work for the establishment of New China. In order to express his loyalty to the party, he enthusiastically devoted himself to this historic design work.

In order to grasp the design pattern and tone of the national flag, he repeatedly read Chairman Mao's "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship", "Analysis of All Classes in Chinese Society" and other works. It was midsummer, and he was in a room at No. 466 Huashan Road, Shanghai. Xiaoge, he didn't know how many sleepless nights he had gone through and how many plans he had designed, but in the end he himself rejected them all. Maybe his sincerity touched the gods in some way. Finally, in the dead of night, he looked out the window and heard a long and melodious Shanghai Opera singing from a distance: "Looking forward to the stars, looking forward to the moon." His inspiration I was suddenly touched - stars, can you use stars to make the pattern of the national flag? From this, he thought of a favorite song that people sang at the time: "The East is Red, the Sun Rises." A bold idea to use the national flag as the main pattern was formed.

The most difficult thing in the design at that time was the placement of the five stars. He designed, cut and pasted, re-designed and cut again, how much wax paper he used, and how many failures he experienced. He no longer remembered that his wife had to sweep out a dustpan of shredded paper every morning. The final plan he decided on was to put the big star on top, with four small stars arranged in a tie shape. He felt that it not only highlighted the big star, but also The whole picture is also novel and unique. When he was preparing to send out the design plan, his old classmate Zhang Gongdu came to visit. Zhang read the design draft and felt it was inappropriate and did not meet the solemn and concise design requirements. This opinion not only rejected Zeng Liansong's design plan, but also undermined his self-confidence. . That night, he couldn't sleep. The next day, he threw away the design draft and re-imagined it. After several more sleepless nights, when he accidentally arranged the positions of five stars in the upper left corner, his eyes suddenly lit up and he felt a sense of enlightenment: the twinkling stars towered over him, and the mountains and rivers were magnificent and magnificent. In order to show that the big star represents the Communist Party of China, he embedded the sickle and ax from the party flag into the middle of the big star, expressing his sincerity to always follow the party.

The envelopes containing the design plans were sent to Beijing through the post office. No one knew that what was contained here was the design plan that was ultimately determined to be the national flag of the new China.

At the time of the new CPPCC meeting, Beijing *** received 3,012 submissions from domestic and overseas applications. The results of the preliminary round came out soon. There were three designs that the judges were unanimously optimistic about, among which there was no design draft by Zeng Liansong.

For the sake of caution, the preparatory group compiled these three designs and some other selected manuscripts into a "Flag Pattern Reference Material" and sent it to all representatives attending the new CPPCC meeting for discussion. As one of the members of the preparatory team, Tian Han has always been deeply impressed by the design of the five-star red flag. He rediscovered Zeng Liansong's design from the pile of design drafts that had been eliminated. Under Tian Han's solemn recommendation, the five-star red flag design became No. 32 in this material. At that time, 38 works were selected in one day.

A few days later, the reference materials containing 38 patterns were delivered to the representatives. After several discussions, no consensus was reached on the selected flag pattern. On the evening of September 25, leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai convened 18 well-known figures in Zhongnanhai Fengze Park to discuss the national flag, national anthem, the anniversary of New China, and the establishment of the capital. When the national flag was discussed, everyone's thoughts There were differences of opinion again, and everyone had to focus on Mao Zedong and wait for his opinion. After Mao Zedong summarized everyone's opinions, he picked up the enlarged five-star red flag pattern from the table: "This is design drawing No. 32. What do you think?" Zhang Zhizhong was the first to express his position: "I agree with No. 32!" He Luting Then he expressed his position: "I also agree with No. 32!" Everyone's opinions soon became unanimous. Mao Zedong kept waiting with a smile. After everyone basically agreed, he slowly said: "Everyone said that this pattern is good, and I think this pattern is also a better pattern." "This pattern reflects the reality of the Chinese revolution and expresses To achieve the great unity of the revolutionary people, we must have great unity not only now, but also in the future. Whether it is now or in the future, we are both united and revolutionary. Do you think so?" As soon as Mao Zedong finished speaking, the hall immediately rang. received warm applause.

On September 27, 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference voted and unanimously approved the five-star red flag as the national flag of the People's Republic of China.

In the next three days, the people of the capital rushed to make many five-star red flags. Among them was an extra-large red flag that was 4.6 meters long and 3.38 meters wide. It was made of red silk and had five-pointed stars made of yellow. Supported by satin material, this piece was carefully sewn by Zhao Wenrui, a sewing lady from Beijing Art Supply Co., Ltd. for the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China.

At the Founding Ceremony held at 3 pm on October 1, along with the solemn national anthem, the five-star red flag slowly rose over Tiananmen Square. 300,000 people looked up eagerly, applauded thunderously, and was full of joy. .

Zeng Liansong, who was far away in Shanghai, had no idea about all this. On the morning of September 29, when he saw the five-star red flag pattern printed in red on the front page of Liberation Daily that day, he was stunned. The pattern was too familiar. Isn't this his design? It was just that the sickle and ax were missing in the middle of the big star. He searched every place in the newspaper and did not see the name of the designer. He thought that maybe it was written by someone else, so he did not write to ask.

The good news came belatedly. In September 1950, Zeng Liansong went to Beijing for a meeting. During the meeting, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference sent someone to him to inquire about the design of the national flag. He truthfully told the story of the conception process and the date of submission. On September 27, he received an invitation to Beijing to attend the first anniversary celebration of the National Day and a viewing pass numbered Taiyou 97. Not long after he returned to Shanghai after attending the National Day ceremony, he received another letter from the General Office of the Central People's Government Committee on November 1. The letter, marked No. 1137, read: "Mr. Zeng Liansong: The Chinese people you designed The flag of the People's Republic of China has been adopted. I hereby present you with a copy of the commemorative magazine of the People's Political Consultative Conference, worth five million yuan (old currency), to be sent to the post office and the People's Bank of China respectively, as a reward for your contribution to the country, and to express my deepest gratitude. Respect."

After receiving the letter, Zeng Liansong was so excited that he could not calm down for a long time. He read the text message over and over again, countless times, and then put it away respectfully. He felt that It was the party and the country that accepted his respect.