Flag of Vietnam

What the flag means

The usual explanation is that red stands for revolution and the blood shed for it. The five points of the star are taken as the main groups of society, among them workers, farmers, soldiers and intellectuals.

History

The flag first appeared in the Cochinchina uprising against French rule on 23 November 1940 and was displayed when the Viet Minh was founded in May 1941. Ho Chi Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam made it the national flag by Decree No. 5 of 5 September 1945. On 30 November 1955 the star was made smaller, with straighter points. It became the flag of the reunified country on 2 July 1976. The designer is disputed: Nguyễn Hữu Tiến has been named since 1981, but in 2001 the Ministry of Culture found no documents to support this.

It is the only flag of an ASEAN member state with no white in it.

Earlier flags of Vietnam

1. 1945–1955Same design with a larger star with blunter points
2. 1949–1975South Vietnam: yellow with three horizontal red stripes
3. 1969–1976Provisional Revolutionary Government: red over blue with a yellow star

Flags of Vietnam's neighbours

• Cambodia
• China
• Laos