Flags of Asia

Colors and symbols on Asian flags

Asia has the widest range of flag styles of any continent. Red is the most common color, often tied to courage or revolution, as on China (one large star and four small ones), Vietnam (a yellow star) and North Korea. The Pan-Arab colors, red, white, black and green, appear on Jordan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Crescents and stars are a signature of Muslim-majority states such as Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Other flags use sacred or national emblems: India has the Ashoka Chakra, Bhutan a dragon, Sri Lanka a lion, Cambodia the temple of Angkor Wat, and Saudi Arabia the Islamic creed over a sword. Japan's red sun disc on white is among the simplest designs anywhere.

Regional patterns help. In Central Asia, Kazakhstan shows a sun with an eagle on sky blue, and Kyrgyzstan a sun on red. In Southeast Asia, the Philippines has a sun with three stars, Thailand five stripes with a wide blue center, and Singapore a crescent with five stars. In East Asia, South Korea displays the taegeuk symbol with four trigrams, and Mongolia carries the golden soyombo symbol.

Oldest and newest Asian flags

Japan's sun symbol has been tied to the country for centuries, although the national flag was only fixed by law in 1999. China's five-star flag dates to 1949, and India adopted its tricolor in 1947. Nepal is the world's only national flag that is not a rectangle: its two stacked triangles became official in 1962.

East Timor raised its flag in 2002 on regaining independence, and Georgia adopted its five-cross flag in 2004. Iraq changed its text to a Kufic script in 2008. Hong Kong and Macau, now special administrative regions of China, each have their own regional flags.

Look-alike flags people confuse

Indonesia (red over white) is nearly the same as Monaco's flag, and Poland simply flips it. Qatar and Bahrain share a red or maroon field with a white serrated edge, with Qatar's having nine points and Bahrain's five. Yemen is a plain red, white and black tricolor, and Iraq adds green script to the same stripes. Japan and Bangladesh both show a red disc, on white and green respectively. Turkey's white crescent and star on red is often confused with the flags of Tunisia in Africa or Azerbaijan, and Malaysia is sometimes mistaken for the United States because of its stripes and canton.

Compare with neighbours in Europe or Africa, or browse the flags by color.