Comments on: Four Little Stars

By: Glyn

Glyn — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:40:38 +0000

The answer I was given by a Chinese friend, who is a Chinese citizen from birth, who has always lived in China, and who answered this question while I was there visiting her in China was: “The centre star represents the guidance of the Communist party and the four smaller stars are groups of workers.”

And I LIKE moon cakes, thank you very much. Why do people always rag on moon cakes?

By: Albert

Albert — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:30:11 +0000

So it seems like the closest to an official answer is what Mark Richey said (not necessarily because of the source, but because a blockbuster would probably portray the official story).

Jonathan,
That’s some thorough sleuthing from you! Can I ask do you have web links for those two documents or are they paper copies that you just happen to have sitting around?

By: Mark Richey

Mark Richey — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:30:17 +0000

The current ‘blockbuster’ movie about the 1946-49 struggle with the KMT screens a series of scenes on the choice of a flag, highlighting the input from different social groupings.

According to this move, a flag with a Yellow River motif had been tentatively selected at an official session of the governing group, over the four-star motif, but Mao in a conversation with a group of pretty girls (I’d have been persuaded, too) was told that the four stars were a metaphor for the unity of China, and the four stars represented the:
1)working class
2) peasantry
3) urban petty bourgeoisie
4) the ‘patriotic’, or ‘national’, ie non-KMT traditional bourgeoisie, as personified in the movie by Soong Ching Ling and Zheng Lan.

This, according to the movie, from a band of pretty girls like the ones who cluster around us foreign teachers all the time! But then, from the mouth of Mao himself.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:02:48 +0000

大星代表领导事业的中国共产党。四颗小星代表4亿中国人民；四大阶级（工人阶级、农民阶级、小资产阶级、民族资产阶级）；四大力量《各民主党派、各人民团体、各界民主人士、国内少数民族和海外华侨）；四大内容《独立、自由、民主、统一）；4000年来的中国历史。黄色大与小星排列成大团圆，表现着：1．大星领导小星，”"团结在一起：2．椭圆形的中国地形；3．黄色
 人种的中华民族；4．黄土地带的中国国土。

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:24:56 +0000

I checked the PRC Constitution, and the flag law and while they describe the flag, neither say what it symbolizes, beyond the red and yellow and the big star. Purposefully ambiguous perhaps?

By: Ingo

Ingo — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:48:38 +0000

Lots of pausible interpretations here (changed over time), maybe you need a proxy to see them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Peoples_Republic_of_China#Symbolism

I guess it’s one of those “blurry” chinese things…