Flags: Yellow Tiger Flag & Star-Spangled Banner

Yellow Tiger Flag: Original images from the National Taiwan Museum & Star-Spangled Banner: Original image from the National Museum of American History

One of the “Three Treasures” of the National Taiwan Museum is Untei Takahashi’s 1909 reproduction of the “Yellow Tiger Flag” of the Formosan Republic. Following the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Taiwan was ceded to the Japanese Empire by the Qing Dynasty. However, the local gentry rejected annexation and declared themselves an independent country on May 23. They chose a president of the Republic of Formosa two days later. The new country was short-lived: on October 21, Japanese troops took over the capital, Tainan, and then the rest of Taiwan shortly thereafter.

The flag’s design features a yellow tiger against a blue background. Though the original is now lost, Takahashi’s reproduction is the most accurate copy and includes the original’s damage. Unlike later one-sided copies, the National Taiwan Museum’s flag has two sides, a tiger on each: one with constricted pupils and the other with dilated pupils to represent protection over the Republic through day and night.

 

Similar to the Yellow Tiger Flag is the Star-Spangled Banner in the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. It features 15 stars and 13 stripes and was sewn by Mary Pickersgill, assisted by her daughter, two nieces, and an indentured servant, as a commission for Fort McHenry during the summer of 1813. After the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812, the fort’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel George Armistead, kept the flag and passed it down as a family heirloom, until it entered the National Museum of American History’s collections in 1907.

 

In its current condition, like NTM’s flag, the NMAH’s flag still displays the damage it has received since its creation. However, it is the original flag from the Battle of Baltimore, while the Yellow Tiger Flag is a facsimile. The Star-Spangled Banner also features some past modifications, such as patches and holes from excised sections that were taken as keepsakes and gifts. For example, one star was removed, leaving only 14 today. Another similarity is that both flags symbolize patriotism and national ideals during a more obscure, but politically tense, part of history for Taiwan and the United States. Yet, while the 1814 flag and its associated conflict have been immortalized in the American national anthem, the Yellow Tiger Flag has been commemorated to a far lesser extent.