The Banner o Hong Kong SAR (Cheenese: 香港區旗) — or Regional Banner o the Hong Kong Special Admeenistrative Region o the Fowkrepublic o Cheenae (Cheenese: 中華人民共和國香港特別行政區區旗) — featurs a white, stylised, five-petal Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia blakeana) flouer in the centre o a red field. Its design was adopted on 4 April 1990 at the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress.[1] The precise uise o the banner is regulatit bi laws passed bi the 58t executive meetin o the State Council held in Beijing.[2] The design o the banner is enshrined in Hong Kong's Basic Law, the ceety's constitutional document,[3] an regulations regardin the uise, prohibition o uise, desecration, an manufactur o the banner are statit in the Regional Flag and Regional Emblem Ordinance.[4] The banner o Hong Kong wis first offeecially hoistit on 1 Julie 1997, in the haundower ceremony markin the transfer o sovereignty.[5]
The design o the banner carries cultural, poleetical, an regional meanins. The colour itsel is significant; red is a festive colour for the Cheenese fowk, uised tae convey a sense o celebration an naitionalism.[6] Mairower, the red colour is identical tae that uised in the naitional FRC banner,[7] chosen tae signify the link re-establisht atween post-colonial Hong Kong an Cheenae. The position o red an white on the banner seembolizes the "ane kintra twa seestems" poleetical principle applee'd tae the region. The stylized renderin o the Bauhinia blakeana flouer, a flouer discovered in Hong Kong, is meant tae serve as a harmonizin seembol for this dichotomie.[6] The five starns o the Cheenese naitional banner, representin the Communist Pairty an Mao Zedong's fower classes (proletarian wirkers, agricultural peasants, petty bourgeoisie an caipitalists), are replicatit on the petals o the flouer.
Afore the adoption o the banner, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Basic Law explained the significance o the banner's design tae the Naitional Fowkcongress:
“ | The regional flag carries a design of five bauhinia petals, each with a star in the middle, on a red background. The red flag represents the motherland and the bauhinia represents Hong Kong. The design implies that Hong Kong is an inalienable part of China and prospers in the embrace of the motherland. The five stars on the flower symbolize the fact that all Hong Kong compatriots love their motherland, while the red and white colours embody the principle of "one country, two systems".[8] | ” |