Hong Kong protest flag

A quick post about some protest flags in Hong Kong. The situation there is attracting a lot of interest in the UK as Hong Kong used to be a British colony and the decision of the Chinese government is seen as a treaty violation of guaranteeing Hong Kong's democratic institutions.

Flag of British Hong Kong

Interestingly the colonial flag appears to have been popular with protesters in Hong Kong, although I haven't seen any in what's being called the "umbrella revolution":

Another flag appears to drop the Union Jack and white disk, leaving the coat of arms on a blue field:

Another flag I saw on the internet keeps the white disk, but drops the colonial coat of arms. I am not sure if this so called pearl of the sea flag is used or if its just a proposal:

I made a protest flag design based on the colonial flag:

It keeps the white "Pearl of the Sea" and replaces the Union Flag with an orchid tree petal, representing Hong Kong sovereignty. If you want to put a coat of arms in the disk, you could use:

A version of this coat of arms design I based on the colonial arms:

I refined the design to this:

Hong Kong coat of arms

I don't think I have looked at Asian  Vexillology or Heraldry in this blog. So I think I will start with this post. As Chinese New Year is tomorrow  I think China is an appropriate country to start with. Instead of looking at China as a whole in this post I will focus on it's "Special Administrative Region" of Hong Kong, for two reasons unlike other countries China has little history as far as heraldry is concerned and I don't want to start from scratch as I am starting a new project soon, and Hong Kong had a coat of arms in its colonial days which make a good starting point:

Hong Kong coat of arms 1959-1997

  The official emblem of Hong Kong  today which is featured on its flag is the five petal Hong Kong orchid. Surrounded by the region's official title in Chinese and "Hong Kong" in the Latin Alphabet (Apparently both English and Chinese are still spoken in Hong Kong):

Although this would probably make a good seal and logo its not exactly a good substitute for a coat of arms so I have too proposals:

As you can see it is based on the old coat of arms, I kept the Chinese dragon supporters (and replaced the lion with one) because they're awesome, the base symbolising the island of Hong Kong is pretty much unchanged although I removed the banner say "Hong Kong" (because its not exactly a motto). I did however add orchids to the base. The crest is basically a simplified version of the "emblem" without the text. The shield itself keeps the Junks (a traditional Chinese sailing vessel a design still in use!), symbolising Hong Kong's relationship with the sea. I also removed the naval crown and replaced it with "Hong Kong" in what I hope is traditional Chinese (I apologise if I got the Chinese letters wrong).

 

If however this is seen as too close to the colonial arms a slightly altered version:





 

This design puts more emphasis on the Chinese text and only has one junk.

I think both of these designs strikes a good balance between both Hong Kong and Chinese symbolism.

Comments are Welcome and Happy Year of the Horse.