The flag of Weihaiwei was the flag used by the British leased territory of

Weihaiwei Weihai (), formerly called Weihaiwei (), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport in easternmost Shandong province. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east, and is the closest Chinese city to South Korea. Weihai's popu ...

, during British rule between 1903 and 1930. The flag consisted of a British

blue ensign The Blue Ensign is a flag, one of several British ensigns, used by certain organisations or territories associated or formerly associated with the United Kingdom. It is used either plain or defaced with a badge or other emblem. The ev ...

with a pair of

Mandarin duck The mandarin duck (''Aix galericulata'') is a perching duck species native to the East Palearctic. It is medium-sized, at long with a wingspan. It is closely related to the North American wood duck, the only other member of the genus ''Aix'' ...

s on it.

History

In 1898, the

Empire of China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...

leased the port of Weihaiwei () to the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

for 25 years. During the first few years, there was no individual flag for Weihaiwei. However, the Commissioners of Weihaiwei in Liu-kung Tao () used a

Union Jack The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

combined with a badge of a Chinese imperial dragon on a yellow background. In 1902, the new civil Commissioner for Weihaiwei

James Stewart Lockhart Sir James Haldane Stewart Lockhart, (25 May 1858 – 26 February 1937) was a British colonial official in Hong Kong and China for more than 40 years. He also served as Commissioner of British Weihaiwei from 1902 to 1921. Additionally, he was ...

wrote to the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...

requesting a new flag for the territory as he felt that it was inappropriate to use a Chinese national symbol on a British flag and suggested using Mandarin ducks instead. (The

Flag of the Qing dynasty The flag of the Qing dynasty was an emblem adopted in the late 19th century featuring the Azure Dragon on a plain yellow field with the red flaming pearl in the upper left corner. It became the first national flag of China and is usually referr ...

at the time was a dragon on a yellow background). He wrote to them stating:

"The design of the flag hitherto used by the Commissioner of this Dependency is a dragon on the Union Jack and is in my opinion quite unsuitable. I have therefore to request that the Crown Agents may be instructed to have made for the use of the Commissioner two new flags, the device of the Mandarin Duck being substituted for the Dragon, which is as you are aware the national emblem of China and not appropriate in the case of a British Dependency".

Following the letter,

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

approved the change of design of the flag for both the Commissioner's flag and the blue ensign in 1903. He also provided for the flag to be used for merchant shipping as the

merchant ensign A civil ensign is an ensign (maritime flag) used by civilian vessels to denote their nationality. It can be the same or different from the state ensign and the naval ensign (or war ensign). It is also known as the merchant ensign or merchant flag ...

. In 1930, when the lease did expire following negotiations with the Republic of China, it was the British flag that was lowered at the handover ceremony and not the flag of Weihaiwei.

Design

The flag was designed as a British blue ensign defaced with a badge of two Mandarin ducks. The ducks consist of a male in the foreground and a female in the background drinking from a stream while standing on a reed-covered bank. Mandarin ducks were chosen to replace the Chinese imperial dragon on the flag, in keeping with the British colonial tradition of using representative common local wildlife of a specific territory as the emblem on its colonial flag.

References

{{Union Flag Blue Ensigns Flags of China

1903 establishments in the British Empire 1930 disestablishments in the British Empire 1930 disestablishments in China Weihaiwei under British rule Flags displaying animals