Flag of the Qing dynasty Flag of the Qing dynasty The flag of the Qing dynasty was an emblem adopted in the late 19th century featuring the Azure Dragon on a plain yellow field with the red flaming pearl of the three-legged crow in the upper left corner. It became the first national flag of China and is usually referred to as the "Yellow Dragon Flag" (). Ruling China from 1644 until the overthrow of the monarchy during the Xinhai Revolution, the Qing dynasty was the last imperial dynasty in China's history. Between 1889 and 1912, the dynasty represented itself with the dragon flag. Throughout
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