China Warlord Period - Uniforms and Flags of the new Republic

[drclaw]

Here are some spectacular images of the uniforms and flags of the early Republic taken from the original Decree Number 19 issued by President Yuan Shikai in 1912.

Thanks heaps to Dieter for his help in tracking this down. He deserves a Golden Kite First Class for this!

Nick, these are for you!

[drclaw]

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[drclaw]

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_09_2012/post-11630-0-73619200-1348914214.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_09_2012/post-11630-0-43573000-1348914353.jpg

Edited September 29, 2012 by drclaw

[drclaw]

Edited September 29, 2012 by drclaw

[JapanX]

Nice! :cheers:

[drclaw]

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[drclaw]

There has been a lot of conjecture regarding the colour of the Warlord dress uniforms. I'd always assumed them to be a very light almost grey baby blue, going from a colour tint photograph of President Yuan Shikai.

But these regulation plates clearly show the blue is much darker, as also confirmed by Li Yuanhong's surviving dress uniform that Nick posted in the Grand Order / Great Merit Order (Da Xun Zhang) thread. Without my Crayola set, I'm not sure how to describe this shade. Sky blue?

Interestingly, the actual height of the white egret plumes on the kepis far exceeded that in the drawings. They were obviously little men ...

Here's a pic of Zhang Zuolin, the Tiger of Manchuria, who stood just five-foot-two in height ... excluding egret plume.

Tomorrow I'll post the flags!

[drclaw]

And now the flags!

When the Republic of China was founded in 1912, groups with differing political viewpoints had different proposals for a new national flag. Eventually they were forced into making a compromise, which saw the five-striped flag becoming the national flag, the Guomindang's "Blue Sky, White Sun, Whole Field Red" flag becoming the naval ensign, and the 18-Stars Wuchang Uprising Flag becoming the War Flag.

Top: The five bar, four coloured flag with the four colours representing four races of China. Later, a fifth bar (yellow) was added to represent the Manchus.

Middle: The famous Wuchang Uprising flag. This became the War Flag of the Republic of China.

A red flag with a black nine-pointed star and yellow disks ("War Flag") was used during the conquest of Wuhan on 10 October 1911. It was later considered a "historical" flag and was used as the war flag by the army. It was never used for civil purposes. It was designed in late September 1911 by Chen Lei and the Zhao brothers, three technical college students in Wuhan at the time. Twenty flags of this design were then made in secret by a local tailor shop owned by the Zhao family (whether this Zhao family was related to the Zhao brothers is not clear). The 18 stars represented the 18 provinces of China at the time. The Provisional Republican Government was set up on 10 October 1911 by Sun Yatsen and Li Yuanhong, a military commander in Wuchang (today is Wuchang a quarter of Wuhan).

Bottom: The naval ensign. This was the Guomindang Blue Sky and White Sun against a red background flag. Sun Yatsen wanted this flag to be the national flag of the new Republic but the five coloured bar flag was selected instead representing the five races of China. When the Guomindang defeated the Beiyang government in 1928, this flag became the new national flag.

(source: www.crwflags.com)

Edited September 30, 2012 by drclaw

[drclaw]

[drclaw]

Top right: National flag of the Republic of China. The five coloured bands represent the five races: red (Han Chinese), yellow (Manchu), blue (Mongolians), white (Tibetans) and black (Muslims).

Middle right: Naval ensign, incorporating the Guomindang Blue Sky an White Sun on red background

Bottom right: Secretary of the Navy

Top left: Deputy Secretary of the Navy

Middle left: Admiral's Rank Flag, incorporating the Guomindang Blue Sky and White Sun motif

Bottom left: Vice Admiral

Edited September 30, 2012 by drclaw

[drclaw]

Top right: Rear Admiral's flag

Middle right: Commodore's flag

Bottom right: Senior Naval Officer flag

[drclaw]

[JapanX]

Awesome flags!

Thanks man!

:beer:

Edited September 30, 2012 by JapanX

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

It seems to me that the 'Beiyang government army uniforms ...' is a more appropriate choice. 

 

Even though it's less catchy, it's more accurate.

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

I forgot to mention earlier but the so called "Warlord Era" was from 1916 to 1928. (As this document is from 1912 it's "Beiyang era" or "Early republic").

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one