European dragon Somerset. The county once formed part of the early-medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex in western England, which too bore a dragon, or wyvern (a two-legged dragon-like creature, as opposed to a four-legged dragon), as a symbol. The Wessex beast is usually colored gold in illustrations. According to the writer on heraldry Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, the red dragon of Wales on the flag originated with the standard of the 7th-century king, Cadwaladr, and was used as a supporter by the Tudor dynasty (who were of Welsh origin). Queen Elizabeth, however, preferring gold, changed the royal mantle and the dragon supporter from
Flag of the Qing dynasty the Republic of China and on the flag of the Empire of China, although in 1912 the former was challenged by Sun Yat-sen, who thought it inappropriate to use the traditional imperial color to represent Manchu ethnicity. Also, mustard yellow was used in the flag of Manchukuo in deference to the Qing dynasty, on whose flag it was based. The blue dragon was featured in the Twelve Symbols national emblem, which was the state emblem of China from 1913 to 1928. When the Qing dynasty purchased battleships from the United Kingdom in 1862, Horatio Nelson Lay designed several naval flags