Flag of the Qing dynasty he petitioned the imperial court for permission and subsequently altered the triangular naval flag into a rectangular one. Seeing Western countries flying national flags on official occasions, Li Hongzhang also asked Empress Dowager Cixi to select a national flag for the Qing dynasty. Among the proposals for use of the Ba gua flag, the Yellow dragon flag and the Qilin flag, Cixi selected the Yellow dragon design. In 1888, the imperial court promulgated the naval flag as the Qing national flag. The notion of yellow as representative of Manchu ethnicity was used in the flags of the Five-coloured flag of
Flag coloured flags. Many national flags and other flags include religious symbols such as the cross, the crescent, or a reference to a patron saint. Flags are also adopted by religious groups and flags such as the Jain flag, Sikh flag, sindhi flag and the Christian flag are used to represent a whole religion. As languages rarely have a flag designed to represent them, it is a common but unofficial practice to use national flags to identify them. The practice is discouraged and can be irritating and because flags tend to evoke feelings other than the intended meaning. Examples of such