What is the ancient title flag?

Refers to the flag, also known as the "standard". Generally speaking, it refers to the cloth with a specific color and pattern hanging on a pole. The "flag" of the flag refers to the equal rows of cloth, which is a symbol representing a country, an army or an army.

Traditionally, the word "sign" is followed by a towel, which means "figure". Therefore, the "flag" is a kind of cloth with more complicated patterns, which serves as a more detailed distinguishing symbol. Under one flag, there can be multiple flags representing different military units (such as the upper army, the middle army, the lower army, etc.). ).

The oldest flag in the world is a flag in 500 BC, which was found in a princess's tomb in Changsha, China. The naked silk paintings unearthed from ancient tombs in the Han Dynasty are a kind of flag used by the ancients at funerals, and also the origin of the evocation flag in the future.

The most common flags are the national flag and the military flag. The original military flag is actually a reflection of tribal people's totem worship in military application. China is recognized as one of the earliest countries with military flags in the world.

Since the late primitive society, China has used flags as a sign of gathering people. At that time, the national flag was simple in style, just a symbolic object or figure tied to the head of the flagpole. As recorded in Erya, "a bell calls for a flag", and Zhou Li mentioned "crossing a dragon as a flag", that is, hanging a bell on a flagpole, drawing a dragon as a flag on a silk book and passing it on to the Yellow Emperor for training, with five flags and five people. "Man" is a kind of flag that commanded the army in ancient times.

The military flags in ancient China often had totem worship. Flags of birds and falcons were painted during the war. "Release the soldiers by releasing their names" said: "If the bear tiger is the flag, the army will be built like a tiger." It refers to a military flag with a tiger pattern. When the general goes out, there will be a flag behind him, which is the oldest name of the military flag.

In some dynasties, military flags were also called "Fang Rong" and "Rong Feng". In Tang Yuan's poems, "I have been serving in the army for many years and suddenly changed", and in Han Yu's poems, there are some sentences, such as "Fang Rong suspended his resignation from the club tree, and the villagers were first respected at the door".

The differences in flag color, flag width, flagpole length and decoration of ancient military flags show the status of commanders and reflect their cultural psychology. The military flag of each dynasty is marked with the abbreviation of that dynasty on the flag frame. If it is embroidered with "Tang" Yu, it is the army of the Tang Dynasty. In addition, commanders and generals often embroider their surnames on flags to distinguish them from other armies. For example, Guan Yu's army played the "Guan" flag and Yue Jiajun played the "Yue" flag. There are also banners with titles, such as the banner of "Chuang" played by the rebels of Chuang Wang Li Zicheng.

With the development of society and the need of military command, the style of flags is constantly improving and the types are increasing. During the Northern Zhou Dynasty, generals, Shi Shuai, brigade commanders and commanders used four kinds of flags.

The "Qijiajun" led by Qi Jiguang, a military strategist in the Ming Dynasty, was equipped with flags of the three armies for the use of commanders and flags to identify generals. The Eight Banners of the Qing Emperor Nurhachi were named after the flag pattern, that is, yellow, red, white and blue flags with and without dragons. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Qing Dynasty (1627 ~ 1643), the Eight Banners were distinguished by eight colors: yellow, white, red and blue.

The ancient Greek and Roman armies were the first troops in the West to use military flags. At first, the flag was relatively simple. Animals such as owls, sphinxes and wolves are painted on a square cloth to distinguish different military units. The ancient Greeks hung images of owls and sphinxes (winged monsters with lion bodies or dog bodies and women's breasts in Greek mythology). At first, the Romans would hang pictures of wolves, pigs and weapons. And since the Punic War, the eagle flag has been hung. Under the eagle, there are words indicating that it belongs to the army, as well as the code names of brigades and squadrons. Guslav people call the military flag a standard, and a sokcho or horsehair (so-called "flagpole") hangs from the top of the rotating flagpole.