This Week In Vexillology #43

Last week, we were in Europe looking at Romania- this week, we're heading down to Southeast Asia to the country where change is slowly and carefully tip-toeing forward with increasing velocity.    Home of the Iron Butterfly and that Patricia Arquette movie from the 90s that I never got to see- yes, this week, it's Burma!

Officially, it's the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, I guess and more importantly, as of 2010 this flag is brand spanking new, realtively speaking.  Adopted on October 21st, 2010 the new flag of Burma is a fusion of the flag of the State of Burma, flown during the Japanese Occupation and the Union of Burma which last from 1948-1974.  Basically, they took the horizontal tricolor from the State of Burma and the five pointed star from the flag of the Union of Burma and combined them.  The yellow in the flag symbolizes solidarity, the green represents peace, tranquility and lush greenery and the red represents courage and detemination.   The white star in the center of the flag represents the unity of the country.

Prior to the adoption of a new constitution and this new flag, the flag looked like this:

This is the flag of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma declared in 1974 by General Ne Win.  The old flag of the Union of Burma looked quite similar to this and this flag shouldn't be confused in any way, shape or form with the flag of Taiwan.  It looks similar, I'll grant you, but it's a totally different flag.   While the Union of Burma flag had a series of stars in the canton (one large one surrounded by four smaller ones) this flag replaced it with a socialist-style emblem. 

On the emblem itself:  the 14 stars represent the unity and equality between the member states of the Union while the cog-wheel represents industry and the rice stands for agriculture.  The white color represents purity.   The blue in the canton represents peace, while the red on the flag symbolizes courage.    The overall design of this flag originated during the Resistance to Japanese occupation during the Second World War.

So there you have it kids, out with the old and in with the new in Myanmar- or Burma.  Remember- until next time keep your flags flying- FREAK or otherwise.