The Chinese Communist Party set about creating their own national flag to reflect their vision of the new China. A team was put together to begin the work of designing a new national flag. In the spirit of the people's party, they decided to publish a notice in the newspapers openly soliciting draft designs.

People from around the world responded and submissions were received from America, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Korea among others. In less than one month, 2,992 designs arrived in Beijing. One entry was sent in by a soldier who fought in the revolutionary war. He and his comrades had drafted their designs while they were on duty in the trenches.

Out of all the designs that were collected, the committee members selected 38 finalists to be considered. Chairman Mao Zedong convened a meeting to review the designs and to choose a winner. The winning design, decided on by the group, was a red flag with four small yellow stars, one large yellow star, and a small hammer and sickle. Although the hammer and sickle was rejected, the rest of the design was unanimously held up as a symbol of China's new unity under the Communist Party.

Symbolism
Shortly after the adoption of the new flag, the Xinhua News Agency published an article answering the following questions from readers:

Q: Why is the flag red?
A: Red Symbolizes the Communist Party revolution.

Q: What do the five stars represent?
A: The five stars represent the unity of the Chinese people under the Party leadership.

Q: Why are the stars yellow?
A: The yellow color depicts the illumination of the red earth by a new government.

Q: Why are the points of the small stars directed toward the center of the big star?
A: They point at the large star to show that their unity revolves around the center [the Party].