^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Vietnam

by Zeljko Heimer - 1996-02-13
Proportions: 2:3
Flag adopted 1955-NOV-30, coat of arms adopted 1956-JULY-21

The Vietnam Flag
Coat of Arms
1945-1955 flag
Flag Tower of Hué

See also:

The Vietnam flag

The five points of the star stand for the farmers, workers, intellectuals, youth and soldiers. Adopted 1955 (modified from 1945 flag). (Jos Poels, Prisma vlaggenboek, 1990)
Mark Sensen - 19 September 1997

I did not see any reference to the date on which they turned on the actual pattern. Well, here it is: the current flag of Vietnam was officially put into use by the then North Vietnam on 30 November 1955.
Pier Paolo Lugli, 10 October 1997

Coat of Arms

from Embassy of Vietnam, Washington, DC

1945-1955 flag

by Mark Sensen - 18 September 1997

The star in the 1945 flag is made in such a way that the inscribed circle (i.e., the one touching the inner angles) is half the diameter of the circumscribed circle (that touches the outer points). Adopted 29 September, 1945.

Flag Tower of Hué

According to the site: http://www.mediaport.net/Expo/Hue2002/hue/textes-hue/cot-co.fr.html

The Flag Tower (Ky Dài or Côt Co) is the central place of the city of Hué [the former imperial capital of Viet Nam] and is nicknamed "the Flag Column". Seen from the Imperial City, the Tower looks like a big fortress with three superposed pyramids [The French text is not very clear]. The tower was erected in 1807 during the reign of Gia-Long. It was increased and embelished by the king Minh-Mang according to the document called Thuc Luc, which is the chronicle of the Nguyên dynasty [the last imperial dynasty]. It is 17.40 m high and made of three storeys of 5. 60 m, 5.80 m and 6 m, from bottom to top, respectively. The [horizontal] area of the tower increases from top to bottom. On this brick bastion are placed eight cannons. On two sides of the third story are placed two small fortresses. The column was initially made of wood, had two parts [storys ?] and was 29.52 m high. In 1846, the king Thieu-Tri rebuild it because he founded it ugly. During the reign of king Thanh-Thai, it was broken by the typhoon in the moon year Thin (1904). France helped to rebuild it in cast iron. The French Army came back 43 years later (1947), and the column was once again broken by the war. In 1948, a new 37-m high column was built in concrete. It had four parts [storys ?], the three uppermost enclosed in a balustrade, the bottommost part having a concret terrace with many stairs. From bottom to top, the column is fixed by iron stems used as a stair [?].
During the era of the Nguyên kings, a yellow flag was hoisted every day on the tower. During the celebration days (for instance the National Day, called the Ceremony of the Nam-Giao Cult), a specific flag was hoisted. It was a 4 x 3.6 m flag made of sheepskin or brocade embroidered in the middle with a dragon and indented all around.

[The Web page shows a picture of the current Viet Nam flag hoisted on the tower. The page includes also links to the chronology of the kings.]
Ivan Sache, 31 March 2000