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China Youth Salvation Corps (Taiwan)

by José Manuel Erbez

See also:

Taiwan

China Youth Salvation Corps

This flag was found in the book "A pictorial history of the Republic of China", published under the auspices of the Government of the Republic of China, Taiwan, in 1981. In a chapter devoted to contemporary Taiwan there are two photos showing young people doing exercises and having fun, and the accompanying text says that they belong to the China Youth Salvation Corps. In both photos it can be seen the same flag, so I guess it is the flag of this Corps (or it was, since I don't know if it still exists).
José Manuel Erbez, 02 October 1999

The China Youth Anti-Communist National Salvation Corps (to give its full title) was established in 1952. As its name suggests, its original purpose was to provide military trainings to youths before they were drafted into the Nationalist Armed Forces. In recent years it has lost much of its militaristic character, although military camps remain one of the many activities it offers, and its flag remains in use. The green field of the flag is self-explanatory, symbolizing growth and youthfulness. It may be helpful to note that the shortened title 'National Salvation Corps' is the term normally used within Taiwan, while 'China Youth Corps' or CYC are common in English.
Miles Li, 14 November, 1999

At a ceremony in Taipei on Dec.1, 1952, Chiang Ching-Kuo, leader of the CYC and later president of Taiwan, commented on the CYC flag:

"Blue sky and white sun represent the ethnic soul, represent the three national principles, represent the Republic of China... The three red horizontal lines sumbolize the revolutionary determination of fearing no pain, fearing no difficulty and fearing no sacrifice, red symbolizes youth's blood and passion, we need to give our lives to an adorable yet turbulent motherland. Green symbolizes our Chinese youth's eternal youthfulness, Chinese youth is the Chinese race's springtime, never grow old, never feel discouraged, ever victorious."

Source: The Complete Works of Mr Chiang Ching-Kuo, News Bureau of the Executive Yuan, Taipei, 1991, Vol.4, p.357.
MIles Li 25 May 2000

On October 25, 2000, the China Youth Anti-Communist National Salvation Corps dropped the 'Anti-Communist' from its full title, so it's now China Youth National Salvation Corps, or in short National Salvation Corps in Chinese, China Youth Corps in English, or just CYC. On the Corps' official website (www.cyc.org.tw) the corps' flags are now shown much less conspicuously on a photograph to the point of being almost invisible. Not sure if that's enough to purge its Nationalist militaristic past.
Miles Li, 26 December 2002