Month of the Year

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• red with a large yellow five-pointed star and
  four smaller yellow five-pointed stars (arranged
  in a vertical arc toward the middle of the flag)
  in the upper hoist-side corner.

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• While there have been several Chinese national
  flags throughout history, today's flag was
  introduced in 1949, when the People's Republic of
  China was formed. China's original flag,
  introduced in 1872, featured a blue dragon on a
  yellow background.  After the 1911 revolt the
  flag changed to five different colored stripes.
• Today's flag features five stars in the left-hand
  corner one large star surrounded by four smaller
  stars on a red background.  The red background is
  known as China's traditional color and dates back
  to the Han Dynasty in 206 B.C., but also
  represents the Communist revolution.  The large
  star represents Communism, while the four smaller
  stars represent the Chinese people's social
  classes.  These four classes are peasants,
  workers, petty bourgeoisie, and patriotic
  capitalists.
• Finally, the total number of stars adds up to
  five, which has always been an important number
  in Chinese philosophy.

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• The National Emblem of the People's Republic of
  China contains a representation of Tiananmen
  Gate, the entrance gate of the Forbidden City
  from the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, in a red
  circle. Above this representation are the five
  stars found on the national flag. The five stars
  represented the union of Chinese peoples. This
  was interpreted as the union of the five major
  ethnicities in China by many people, but other
  people interpreted as the five social classes.
  The emblem is described as being "Composed of
  patterns of the national flag."1 These elements
  were described as
• The red color of the flag symbolizes revolution
  and the yellow color of the stars the golden
  brilliant rays radiating from the vast red land.
  The design of four smaller stars surrounding a
  bigger one signifies the unity of the Chinese
  people under the leadership of the Communist
  Party of China (CPC)
• The circle has a border that contains sheaves of
  wheat reflecting the Maoist philosophy of an
  agricultural revolution. At the center of the
  bottom portion of the border is a cog-wheel that
  represents the industrial workers.
• These elements together were designed to
  symbolise the revolutionary struggles of the
  Chinese people since the May Fourth Movement, and
  the coalition of the proletariats which succeeded
  in founding the People's Republic of China.
• The emblem was designed by Liang Sicheng, a
  famous architect, in a competition held at the
  founding of the People's Republic with obvious
  similarities to the symbols used by the USSR. It
  was determined as the National Emblem (September
  20, 1950) by the Central People's Government.

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• The design went through several changes and was
  finally approved by the Chinese People's
  Political Consultative Conference on September
  27, 1949 at their First Plenary Session. The
  original design plans contained several
  alterations in comparison with the modern-day
  flag.
• Three of the original flag candidates showed the
  large golden star (with no additional stars
  anywhere else) along with one, two, or three
  yellow bars (horizontal) at the bottom of the
  flag, representing the Yangtze, Huang He (Yellow
  River) and the Zhujiang River (Pearl River). They
  were not chosen by the officials, however,
  because the very presence of these bars appeared
  to suggest the idea of a tearing or splitting of
  the nation.
• The final design was a red with a large yellow
  five-pointed star and four smaller yellow
  five-pointed stars (arranged in a vertical arc
  toward the middle of the flag) in the upper
  hoist-side corner. The color red symbolizes the
  spirit of the revolution, and the five stars
  signify the unity of the people of China under
  the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.
  The flag was officially unveiled in Beijings
  Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949, the formal
  announcement of the founding of the Peoples
  Republic of China.

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• The Chinese dragon is visualized as a long,
  scaled, snake-like creature with five claws. In
  contrast to the European dragon which stands on
  four legs and which is usually portrayed as evil,
  the Chinese dragon has long been a potent symbol
  of auspicious power in Chinese folklore and art.
  The Chinese dragon is traditionally also the
  embodiment of the concept of yang (male) and
  associated with the weather as the bringer of
  rain and water in an agriculturally water-driven
  nation. Its female counterpart is the Fenghuang.
  The Chinese dragon is the derivation of other
  Oriental dragons.
• The dragon is sometimes used in the West as a
  national emblem of China. However, this usage
  within both the People's Republic of China and
  the Republic of China on Taiwan is rare.
• Firstly, the dragon was historically the symbol
  of the Emperor of China. Starting with the Yuan
  Dynasty, regular citizens were forbidden to
  associate themselves with the symbol. The dragon
  re-emerged during the Qing Dynasty and appeared
  on national flags.1
• Secondly, in European-influenced cultures, the
  dragon has aggressive, warlike connotations that
  the Chinese government wishes to avoid. It is for
  these reasons that the giant panda is far more
  often used within China as a national emblem than
  the dragon. In Hong Kong, however, the dragon is
  part of the design of Brand Hong Kong, a symbol
  used to promote Hong Kong as an international
  brand name2.
• Many Chinese people often use the term
  "Descendants of the Dragon" (????) as a sign of
  ethnic identity, as part of a trend started in
  the 1970s when different Asian nationalities were
  looking for animal symbols for representations.1
  The wolf was used among the Mongols, the monkey
  among Tibetans.1
• In Chinese culture today, it is mostly used for
  decorative purposes. It is a taboo to disfigure a
  depiction of a dragon for example, an
  advertisement campaign commissioned by Nike,
  which featured the American basketball player
  LeBron James slaying a dragon (as well as beating
  up an old Kung Fu master), was immediately
  censored by the Chinese government after public
  outcry over disrespect.3
• A number of Chinese proverbs and idioms also
  feature references to the dragon, for example
  "Hoping one's son will become a dragon" (????,
  i.e. be as successful and powerful as a dragon).

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• The flag of Hong Kong, or the Regional Flag of
  the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of
  the People's Republic of China (traditional
  Chinese simplified Chinese, features a
  stylised, white, five-petal Bauhinia blakeana
  flower in the centre of a red field.
• The flag of Hong Kong was adopted on 16 February
  1990. On 10 August 1996, it received formal
  approval from the Preparatory Committee, a group
  which advised the People's Republic of China
  (PRC) on Hong Kong's transfer of sovereignty from
  the United Kingdom to the PRC in 1997. The flag
  was first officially hoisted on 1 July 1997, in
  the handover ceremony marking the transfer of
  sovereignty. The precise use of the flag is
  regulated by laws passed by the 58th executive
  meeting of the State Council held in Beijing.1
  The design of the flag is enshrined in Hong
  Kong's Basic Law, the city's constitutional
  document,2 and regulations regarding the use,
  prohibition of use, desecration, and manufacture
  of the flag are stated in the Regional Flag and
  Regional Emblem Ordinance.

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• The Emblem of Hong Kong, or the Regional Emblem
  of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of
  the People's Republic of China, is the emblem
  which represents Hong Kong. It came into use on 1
  July 1997, after Hong Kong's transfer of
  sovereignty from the United Kingdom to the
  People's Republic of China.
• The emblem features the same design elements as
  the regional Flag of Hong Kong in a circular
  setting. The outer white ring is shown with the
  caption of the official name of the territory in
  Traditional Chinese and the English short form,
  "Hong Kong".

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• The Regional flag of the Macau Special
  Administrative Region of the People's Republic of
  China (traditional Chinese simplified Chinese
  is light green with a lotus flower above the
  stylized Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge and
  water in white, beneath an arc of five gold,
  five-pointed stars one large in the center of
  the arc and four smaller ones.
• The lotus was chosen as the floral emblem of
  Macau. The Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge is a
  bridge linking the Macau Peninsula and the island
  of Taipa. The bridge is one of the most
  recognisable landmarks for the territory. The
  water beneath the lotus and the bridge symbolise
  Macau's position as a port and its role played in
  the territory. The five five-pointed stars echo
  the design of the flag of the People's Republic
  of China, symbolising the relationship Macau has
  with its mother country.

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• The current devised emblem came into use in 20
  December 1999, when the sovereignty of Macau was
  transferred from Portugal to the People's
  Republic of China. The emblem is now referred to
  officially as the "Regional Emblem".
• The regional emblem features the same design
  elements as the regional flag of Macau in a
  circular setting. The outer white ring is shown
  with the caption of the official name of the
  territory in traditional Chinese characters (as
  opposed to the simplified form) (Macau Special
  Administrative Region of the People's Republic of
  China) and the Portuguese short form, "Macau".