flag of Tibet

According to the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan flag has the following symbolism:

• The white triangle at the center of the flag symbolises a snow-clad mountain.
• The six red stripes exist atop a blue sky representing the original ancestors of the Tibetan people: the six tribes called Se, Mu, Dong, Tong, Dru, and Ra.
• The yellow sun represents the equal enjoyment of freedom, spiritual and material happiness and prosperity by all beings in Tibet.
• The pair of snow lions represent Tibet’s victorious accomplishment of a unified spiritual and secular life.
• The three-coloured jewel held by the snow lions represent the three "supreme gems," the objects of refuge: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
• The two coloured swirling jewel held between the two lions represents the people’s guarding and cherishing of the self discipline of correct ethical behaviour.
• The flag’s yellow border symbolises that the teachings of the Buddha are flourishing and spreading.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 135-S-11-07-17, Tibetexpedition, Militärparade.jpg waves the Tibetan flag at a military parade in Lhasa, 1938.]]

In February 1913, shortly after the fall of the Qing dynasty, the 13th Dalai Lama, Tibet's political and spiritual leader, declared independence from China and began modernising the Tibetan army.Sheel, R. N. Rahul. "The Institution of the Dalai Lama". The Tibet Journal, Vol. XIV No. 3. Autumn 1989, pp. 20. According to Tsarong Dasang Dadul, the commander-in-chief of the modern Tibetan army, in 1916, a new national flag was adopted by the Dalai Lama and all army regiments were ordered to carry the flag in its present form.Tsarong, p. 51. Gyalten Namgyal, tailor to both the 13th and 14th Dalai Lamas wrote, "When I was fourteen, the Dalai Lama decided he wanted a Tibetan national flag made, and designed it himself. When a prototype was approved and the first flag commissioned, I was the one to execute the work."{{Cite book|title=The Book of Tibetan elders : Life Stories and Wisdom from the Great Spiritual Masters of Tibet|last=Johnson|first=Sandy|publisher=Riverhead Books|year=1996|isbn=9781573226073|location=New York|publication-place=New York, NY|pages=66|chapter=Palace Intrigues|oclc=34191822|quote=When I was fourteen, the Dalai Lama decided he wanted a Tibetan national flag made, and designed it himself. When a prototype was approved and the first flag commissioned, I was the one to execute the work.}}

File:Mahatma Gandhi speaks at the 1947 Asian Relations Conference, Delhi.jpg in Delhi in 1947 as Mahatma Gandhi speaks (far left). A circular version of the Tibetan flag is seen in front of them along with the seals of other participating countries.]]

In addition to being carried by Tibet's army, the flag was displayed on public buildings of the Ganden Phodrang government. Historical footage shows the flag flying at the foot of the Potala Palace, the site of the Dalai Lama's government in Tibet.{{cite AV media | people=Cruickshank, Dan (Director) | date=15 November 2006 | title=The Lost World of Tibet | medium=Motion picture | time =38:16 | location=Tibet | publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Cruickshank}} The snow lion flag motif was also used on a flag seen by English diplomat, Sir Eric Teichman, flying above a Tibetan government building during the 1917–1918 hostilities between Sichuan and Tibet: "Over the Kalon Lama’s residence{{nbsp}}... floats the banner of Tibet, a yellow flag bearing a device like a lion in green, with a white snow mountain and a sun and moon in the corner."{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/travelsofconsula00teicuoft|title=Travels of a consular officer in Eastern Tibet|last1=Teichman|first1=Eric, Sir|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1922|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/travelsofconsula00teicuoft/page/116 116]|access-date=23 March 2015}}

File:Die Schweiz für Tibet - Tibet für die Welt - GSTF Solidaritätskundgebung am 10 April 2010 in Zürich IMG 5703.JPG with Tibet's flag in Zurich, Switzerland 10 April 2010]]

Outside of Tibet, the flag was featured in publications by foreign governments, reference books, academic journals, and in culturally significant works up until 1959.{{cite web |last1=Gulotta |first1=Nick |title = Recognizing the Snow Lion: New Examples of International Awareness of Tibet's National Flag

|date=8 March 2021 |url = https://www.tibetanreview.net/recognizing-the-snow-lion-new-examples-of-international-awareness-of-tibets-national-flag/ |access-date=10 March 2021}} One of its first official international appearances was in a British Crown publication in 1923, "Drawings of the Flags in Use at the Present Time by Various Nations."{{cite book |last1=Admiralty |first1=Authority |title=Drawings of the Flags in Use at the Present Time by Various Nations |date=1923 |pages=66 |publisher = His Majesty’s Stationery Office |location=London }} It was also included in the German Ministry of Defense's Naval Command, "Flaggenbuch," in 1926{{cite book |last1=Marineleitung |first1=Germany |title=Flaggenbuch |date=1926 |publisher = Druck und Verlag der Reichsdruckerei |location=Berlin }} and in the Italian Naval Ministry's "Raccolta delle Bandiere Fiamme e Insegne in uso presso le Diverse Nazioni" in 1934.{{cite book |last1=Direzione Generale Armi e Armamenti Navali |first1=Ministero della marina |title=Raccolta delle Bandiere Fiamme e Insegne in uso presso le Diverse Nazioni |date=1934 |pages=82 |publisher = Ministero della Marina |location=Rome }} National Geographic Magazine featured the flag in their 1934 “Flags of the World” edition. The caption reads, "Tibet.- With its towering mountain of snow, before which stand two lions fighting for a flaming gem, the flag of Tibet is one of the most distinctive of the East."{{cite journal |last1=Grosvenor |first1=Gilbert |last2=Showalter |first2=William J. |title=Flags of the World |journal=The National Geographic Magazine |date=September 1934 |volume= LXVI – No. 3 |publisher=National Geographic Society |location=Washington, D.C.}} Beginning in 1928, images of the flag were also widely published by companies in Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, and Oceania in national flag collections on various forms of trading cards.{{cite web |last1=Gulotta |first1=Nick |last2=Yangzom |first2=Dicky |title=Tibet on the Cards of History: Revisiting the Tibetan National Flag |url=https://sites.google.com/site/tibetanpoliticalreview/articles/tibetonthecardsofhistory |access-date=23 March 2015 |archive-date=1 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401084604/https://sites.google.com/site/tibetanpoliticalreview/articles/tibetonthecardsofhistory |url-status=dead }}

The flag's first appearance at an international gathering was in March–April 1947 at the Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi.{{cite web|author=Central Tibetan Administration|title=CTA's Response to Chinese Government Allegations: Part Four|url=https://tibet.net/important-issues/sino-tibetan-dialogue/ctas-response-to-chinas-allegations/ctas-response-to-chinese-government-allegations-part-four/|website=Tibet.net|publisher=Central Tibetan Administration|access-date=10 March 2021}} The Conference, organised by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, hosted Asian states and anti-colonial movements. The representative of the British government of India in Lhasa, Hugh Richardson, personally shared the invitation from the Indian Council of World Affairs with the Tibetan Foreign Office and advised that the conference was a good opportunity to show Asia and the world that Tibet was de facto an independent country.Claude Arpi, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nsIjCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Tibet%2C+le+pays+sacrifi%C3%A9%22+Conf%C3%A9rence+panasiatique&pg=PA225 Tibet, le pays sacrifié], Bouquineo, 2011, p. 225: "À la fin de 1946, la rumeur circula à Lhassa qu’une délégation du gouvernement tibétain allait être invitée en Inde pour participer à une conférence panasiatique. Le représentant britannique à Lhassa, Hugh Richardson, transmit l’invitation officielle du Conseil indien pour les Affaires mondiales au gouvernement [tibétain]." (The British representative in Lhasa, Hugh Richardson, conveyed the Indian Council of World Affairs' official invitation to the [Tibetan] government). At the conference, leaders of each of the thirty-two delegations sat on a dais behind a plate with the name and flag of their country.{{cite web|last1=Arpi|first1=Claude|title=Fifty Years Ago: The Asian Relations Conference|url=http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=16010|website=Phayul|publisher=Phayul.com|access-date=21 October 2016|archive-date=1 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401175405/http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=16010|url-status=dead}} American historian A. Tom Grunfeld asserts that the conference was not government-sponsored, and so Tibet's and the Tibetan flag's presence had "no diplomatic significance", adding that the flag was removed after representatives from the Republic of China protested to conference organisers who then issued a statement that Jawaharlal Nehru had invited the Tibetan delegates "in a personal capacity."{{Cite book |title=The Making of Modern Tibet |author = Grunfeld, A. Tom |author-link=A. Tom Grunfeld |page=78 |year=1996}}{{Cite book |title=Protracted Contest: Sino-Indian Rivalry in the Twentieth Century |author=Garver, John W.|publisher=University of Washington Press |year=2001|page=44}} A Tibetan delegate who attended the conference claims that this did not occur and the only existing photos from the conference show the flag displayed along with other participating countries' flags.{{cite book|last1=Sampho|first1=Tenzin Thondup|title=The Violent Waves of My Life (In Tibetan) metse balap trukpo|date=1987|publisher=self-published|location=Dehradun}}.

File:Tibetan Flag in Tibet 1940s.jpg

After the People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet and the 17-Point Agreement was signed, the flag continued to be used in the 1950s under the Chinese government, although the flag's status was unclear. Many in the Chinese Communist Party felt that the usage of the flag indicated separatism, but the Tibetan local government at the time stressed that the flag was an army flag (the Tibetan army continued to exist parallel to People's Liberation Army infantries) and not a national flag. Phuntso Wangye claims that Mao Zedong discussed the flag in 1955 conversation with the 14th Dalai Lama. According to the story, Mao told the Dalai Lama that Zhang Jingwu, Zhang Guohua, and Fan Ming told him that Tibet had a "national flag". The Dalai Lama replied that Tibet had an army flag. Reportedly, Mao replied that "you may keep your national flag". There is no official recognition of this conversation by the Chinese government however.

During this period before 1959, the flag continued to be recognised internationally as a national flag in reference books and by foreign governments. When the Dalai Lama visited the Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim in 1956 the Tibetan flag was used by the Sikkimese government to welcome him. The flag can be seen in historic footage flying on the same flagpole alongside the flag of Sikkim at the Chogyal’s Tsuklakhang Palace and on the Dalai Lama’s motorcade provided by the royal family.{{cite web|first=Nick|last=Gulotta|title=Recognizing the Snow Lion: New Examples of International Awareness of Tibet's National Flag|url=https://www.tibetanreview.net/recognizing-the-snow-lion-new-examples-of-international-awareness-of-tibets-national-flag/|website=tibetanreview.net|date=8 March 2021 |publisher=The Tibetan Review|access-date=10 March 2021}}

American anthropologist Melvyn Goldstein argues that while the Tibetan flag was used by the army, few Tibetans in Tibet knew about it so when they wanted to protest against the Chinese government, they would use the flag of Chushi Gangdruk instead.{{Cite book |title=On the Cultural Revolution in Tibet: The Nyemo Incident of 1969|author=Goldstein, Melvyn C. |author2=Jiao, Ben |author3=Tanzen Lhundrup |author-link=Melvyn Goldstein |publisher=University of California Press |year=2009 |page=209}} Tibetan historian, Jamyang Norbu, has challenged this assertion citing incidents of the Tibetan public’s regard for the flag as their national symbol.{{cite web|first=Jamyang|last=Norbu|title=Freedom Wind, Freedom Song|url=https://www.jamyangnorbu.com/blog/2015/02/12/freedom-wind-freedom-song-1/|website=jamyangnorbu.com|date=12 February 2015 |publisher=Shadow Tibet|access-date=10 March 2021}}

After the 1959 Tibetan Uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama left his position as Ruler of Tibet, denounced the 17-Point Agreement with the PRC, and established the exile Central Tibetan Administration in India. As part of his project to inculcate pan-Tibetan nationalism (of all Tibetan people and not just those in his previous domain of the Tibet Autonomous Region), he standardised and adopted symbols as nationalist symbols, such as the Lhasa dialect of Tibetan, a Tibetan national anthem, and the flag.{{Cite book |title=Tibet, Tibet |first=Patrick |last=French |author-link=Patrick French |publisher=Random House |year=2009 |pages=24, 230}} The flag is popularly known as the Snow Lion flag due to the presence of the two snow lions.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMPyCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA35|title=Oral and Literary Continuities in Modern Tibetan Literature: The Inescapable Nation|author=Lama Jabb|date=10 June 2015|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9781498503341|page=35|quote=Employing symbols that reinforce Tibetan national identity, he begins by invoking the banned Tibetan national flag.}} The flag was adopted as a symbol of the Tibetan independence movement, and has become known as the "Free Tibet flag".BBC News: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7370903.stm 'Free Tibet' flags made in China], 28 April 2008{{Cite news |url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5633085.ece |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110629114956/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5633085.ece |url-status = dead |archive-date = 29 June 2011 |title=Five pro-Tibet demonstrators arrested in clash outside Chinese embassy |first=Helen |last=Nugent |date=1 February 2009 |access-date=16 January 2011 |publisher=The Sunday Times}} Through the diaspora's and international protesters' use of the flag, it became known and used in protest by the Tibetan public. The flag is banned in mainland China.

Hsiao Bi-khim.jpg|Hsiao Bi-khim, a Taiwanese politician from the DPP, wears a shirt featuring the Tibetan flag at a Free Tibet demonstration in 2008.

Tibet lliure!!!!.jpg|Tibetan flags painted on the faces of Tibetan demonstrators

2008 Duke University Student Grace Wang Qianyuan Explains Idea of Free Tibet in Public 美國杜克大學女學生王千源在西藏-圖博雪山獅子旗與公眾前闡釋自由西藏-圖博理念.jpg|Duke University student {{Interlanguage link|Grace Wang Qianyuan|lt=Grace Wang Qianyuan|fr|Wang Qianyuan (étudiante)|WD=}} during her speech on Free Tibet in 2008.

Flaga tybetu na maratonu (8742115792).jpg|A Tibetan flag at the Cracovia Marathon, 2013

The flag of Tibet does not have its own emoji.{{Cite web|title=Tibetan Flag Emoji|url=https://www.tibetflagemoji.com/|access-date=19 April 2021|website=Tibetan Flag Emoji|language=en-US}} Tibetan activists unsuccessfully petitioned the Unicode Consortium for a Tibet flag emoji in 2019.{{Cite magazine|last=Pardes|first=Arielle|date=25 October 2019|title=In Flying Flags, Emoji Become Political|language=en-US|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/story/flag-emoji-politics-tibet-china/|access-date=31 May 2021|issn=1059-1028}} Wired noted that Taiwan, where China's sovereignty is also challenged, has an emoji for its flag. However, Wired also noted that a Tibetan flag emoji may open a Pandora's box of similar requests from other unrecognised states and independence movements.

File:Vienna 2012-05-26 - Europe for Tibet Solidarity Rally 164 Lobsang Sangay (cropped).jpg at the Europe for Tibet Solidarity Rally, Vienna, 2012]]

In 2012, Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay was photographed with the flag of Tibet in Ladakh, India, prompting the Chinese government to issue a statement criticizing the public display of the flag. The Indian government had previously promised the Chinese government that it would not allow anti-China political activities by Tibetan exiles on Indian territory.{{cite web|url=https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/unfurling-of-tibetan-flag-on-the-shores-of-ladakh-s-pangong-lake-riles-up-protests-in-china-325530.html|title=Unfurling Of Tibetan Flag On The Shores Of Ladakh's Pangong Lake Riles Up Protests In China|last=Dasgupta|first=Saibal|date=10 July 2017|website=India Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171125224322/https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/unfurling-of-tibetan-flag-on-the-shores-of-ladakh-s-pangong-lake-riles-up-protests-in-china-325530.html|archive-date=25 November 2017|access-date=3 December 2017|quote="Chinese media is criticizing a reported move by the Tibetan government in exile to unfurl a flag representing its idea of "Tibetan national flag" on the shores of Bangong Lake, known as Pangong Lake in India, in Ladakh."}}

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• {{FOTW |id = xt |title = Flag of Tibet}}
• {{cite web | title= The Tibetan National Flag | work=Historical Background |publisher=Central Tibetan Administration| url=http://tibet.net/about-tibet/the-tibetan-national-flag/| access-date=30 May 2020 }}
• {{cite web | title= Tibet flag page | work=Flags: Past and Present |publisher=Roberto Breschi| url=http://www.rbvex.it/asiapag/tibet.html| access-date=30 May 2020 }}

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