Quick Answer: The national flag of the People's Republic of China is a Chinese red field with five golden stars charged at the canton. The design features one large star, with four smaller stars in an arc set off towards the fly. The five stars and their relationships to each other represent the unity of the Chinese people, symbolized by four smaller stars, under the Chinese Communist Party, symbolized by the large star. The red represents the Chinese Communist Revolution. It is commonly called the "Five-star Red Flag" in China. China's first national flag, called the Yellow Dragon Flag, was adopted by the Qing dynasty in 1862, featuring an Azure Dragon on a plain yellow field with a flaming red pearl in the upper left corner. On 10 January 1912, after the Xinhai Revolution and the establishment of the Republic of China, the Five-Colored Flag was adopted as the national flag by the Beiyang government, featuring five colored stripes representing the five major ethnic groups in China.