China - Republic, National Flag, Patriotic Anti-Communist Youth Movement, Captured by Japanese Troops, 1938
This cotton, hand and machine sewn Chinese National Flag bears in the canton the 12 rayed sun of the Kuomintang (KMT) Party. The party was founded on the republican and nationalist principles espoused by the father of the Chinese republic, Dr. Sun Yat- Sen. With time, the KMT eventually came to control most of China.
Group #1 of the Federation of Chinese Anti-Communist Patriotic Youth Leagues used this flag. The Chinese inscription along the hoist (roughly translated as, "We the Opposing Forces, Federation of Patriotic Youth League, The 1st Group") reads correctly on both sides so it is highly likely that this flag was carried by that group as an organizational color.
The KMT and the Chinese Communist Party underwent a schism that began with the Shanghai Massacre of 1927. It is likely that this flag has its genesis in this period, and that this group was active in the suppression of the Chinese Communist Party until the invasion of China a decade later by the empire of Japan in 1937.
It is believed that it was during this period that this flag was captured by Japanese troops and taken to Japan as a trophy of war, a popular activity for soldiers of all nations from time immemorial. Here the flag was kept as a war trophy.
Provenance: Acquired form Japan in an Internet auction in 2009.
ZFC Significant Flag
Sources:
Flag of the Republic of China, Wikipedia, 8 October 2011, from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China
Party History, Kuomintang Official Website, 8 October 2011, from:
http://www.kmt.org.tw/english/page.aspx?type=para&mnum=108
Shanghai massacre of 1927, Wikipedia, 8 October 2011, from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927
Second Sino-Japanese War, , Wikipedia, 8 October 2011, from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sino-Japanese_War
