Flag of Macau

What the flag of Macau looks like

The flag of Macau has a plain green background with a ratio of 2:3. In the center is a white lotus flower with three petals, drawn in a stylized, simple form. Beneath the lotus is a white outline of the Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge, which links the Macau peninsula with Taipa island, and below it four wavy white lines for water.

Above the lotus is an arc of five yellow (gold) five-pointed stars: one large star in the middle and two smaller stars on each side. The stars follow the same pattern as the stars on the flag of the People's Republic of China, where one large star is surrounded by four smaller ones.

The flag is used together with the national flag of China on official occasions. Macau has no separate sovereignty, and the green flag is the regional flag of the Special Administrative Region. You can also see a smaller version as the Macau flag emoji.

Macau flag meaning and symbolism

Each element has a commonly cited meaning:

• The lotus is the symbol of the region. Macau is sometimes called the lotus land, and the flower is also on the regional emblem. The three petals are often taken as the three parts of the territory: the peninsula, Taipa and Coloane.
• The bridge and water stand for the port, the sea and the links between the parts of Macau.
• The five stars show that Macau is part of China. The large star is the nation, and the four smaller stars are the four parts of the unity.
• Green is usually described as peace and calm, and white as purity. The gold of the stars matches the stars on the Chinese flag.

The exact meaning of each color is not set out in great detail in the basic law, so these readings are traditional.

History of the Macau flag

Macau was administered by Portugal for more than four centuries, from the 16th century until 1999. During that time the territory used the flag of Portugal as its national flag and had its own coat of arms, but no separate regional flag in the modern sense. Macau was never a separate state, and the Portuguese flag was the one hoisted on government buildings.

Under the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration of 1987, sovereignty over Macau passed to China on 20 December 1999, with the region keeping a high degree of autonomy under the principle of one country, two systems. A regional flag and emblem were drawn up in the early 1990s, and the design was approved by the National People's Congress in 1993 as part of the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region. The flag was first raised at the handover ceremony in 1999.

It is often shown beside the flag of Hong Kong, another Special Administrative Region of China that uses a white flower on a red field.

Macao or Macau

Both spellings are used. Macau is the common English spelling, based on the Portuguese form, while Macao is the form used in the Basic Law and by the Chinese government in English. The flag is the same under either name. For other flags in Asia, see flags of Asia.