Flag of Vietnam



The flag of Vietnam, or "red flag with a gold star" (Vietnamese cờ đỏ sao vàng}}), was designed in 1940 and used during an uprising against French rule in southern Vietnam that year. The background was inspired by the red flag, used by the international communist movement since the Paris Commune of 1871. Red symbolizes the goals of social revolution behind the Vietnamese, national uprising. The star represents the five main classes in Vietnamese society—intellectuals, farmers, workers, businessmen and military personnel.

The flag was used by the Viet Minh, a communist-led organization created in 1941 to oppose Japanese occupation. At the end of World War II, Viet Minh leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnam independent and signed a decree on September 5, 1945 adopting the flag as the flag of the North Vietnam. The DRV became the government of North Vietnam in 1954 following the Geneva Accords. The flag was modified on November 30, 1955 to make the edges of the star sharper. Until the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, South Vietnam used a yellow flag with three red stripes. The red flag of North Vietnam was later adopted as the flag of the unified Vietnam in 1976.

Design and history
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".

The flag first appeared in the southern uprising (Vietnamese: Nam Kỳ Khởi nghĩa) of November 23, 1940, against French rule in southern Vietnam. A series of articles by Sơn Tùng on the origin of the flag were published in the state media in 1981. Sơn Tùng stated that the flag was designed by Nguyễn Hữu Tiến, a leader of the uprising who was arrested by the French in advance of the failed uprising and executed Aug. 28, 1941. Tiến, who was born in the northern village of Lũng Xuyên, was unknown to the Vietnamese public before Tùng's research was published. According to a poem Tiến wrote, the red background represents blood while the yellow foreground represents "the color of our race’s skin", the five points of the star represent intellectuals, peasants, workers, traders and soldiers. Tiến's poem reads in part:

 ... All those of red blood and yellow skin Together we fight under the nation’s sacred flag The flag is soaked with our crimson blood, shed for the nation The yellow star is the colour of our race’s skin Stand up, quickly! The nation’s soul is calling for us Intellectuals, peasants, workers, traders and armymen United as a five-pointed yellow star... In April 2001, Vietnam's Ministry of Culture reported that there was no documentation to support the claim that Tiến designed the flag. In 2005, Lê Minh Đức, an official of Tiền Giang province, suggested that the flag was designed by another cadre, Lê Quang Sô, a native of Mỹ Tho Province in the Mekong delta. Đức's theory is based on statements by Sô's son as well as Sô's 1968 memoir. According to Đức, yellow was chosen to represent Vietnam while the red background was inspired by the flag of the Communist Party and represents revolution. Sô experimented with stars in various positions and sizes before choosing a large star in the center for aesthetic reasons. In April 1940, the flag was approved by Phan Văn Khỏe, the Communist party chief of Mỹ Tho. It was subsequently approved by the national party in July.

The flag was displayed at a conference on May 19, 1941, at which the Viet Minh was founded. The Viet Minh proclaimed it a "national flag" on August 17, 1945, at a meeting held in the village of Tân Trào in the North. When the Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II, the Viet Minh entered Hanoi and proclaimed the "Democratic Republic of Vietnam" on September 2. On September 5, DRV President Ho Chi Minh signed a decree adopting the Vietminh flag. Following the Geneva Accord between Viet Minh and France in 1954, the DRV became the government of North Vietnam. On November 30, 1955, the flag's design was modified slightly to make the star smaller and its edges straighter. This followed a similar modification of the Flag of the Soviet Union. The flag was adopted in the South after the end of the Vietnam war, and North and South were unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on July 2, 1976.