For the construction of Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Manchukuo, the puppet state of the Empire of Japan established in Northeast China, signaled the strategic change of the colonial management from its foundation. The two founding principles, “unity between five nations(五族協和)” and “paradise of the kingly way(王道樂土)” of which meant Japan, Korea, China, Manchuria and Mongolia work together to accomplish the ideal of benevolent government, were most prominently presented through various forms of visual representation. By shedding light upon the images of national symbols and its historical background, this thesis was led to investigate diverse aspects of how the ruling power visualised itself, and propagandised the ill-fated legitimacy. In order to carry out this research, the national flag (New Five-coloured flag), the national flower (Noble Orchid) and Pu Yi’s regalia during the official ceremonies were selected as the case analysis objects.
The New Five-coloured flag consists of five colours (yellow, red, navy, black and white), corresponding to that of which signifies harmonisation in the multi-national state of Manchukuo and, on the other hand, it was the modification of the Five Races Under One Union flag used in the Chinese Revolution. However, in the official legislative records, the meaning of the five colours on the flag is not specified. By taking account of these circumstances, it can be postulated that the visual image of “five colours” were familiar to the people whilst it functioned as the means of succeeding the region’s legitimate power. Unlike the Nationalist Party of China abolished the use of the flag because of its Sinocentric properties, Manchukuo rather put forward the New Five-coloured flag as a visual representation to defy the Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth flag (currently the flag of the Republic of China). By comprising the five colours, it emphasises on the aspect of tradition and, at the same time, Confucian ruling ideology of so-called the kingly way. The very notions of “the centre of the world” and “the Emperor”, and the Confucian concepts like “virtue” and “benevolence”, were all symbolically merged into the background yellow, leading to the Utopian assertion of unity in Pan-Asia.
Despite the Noble Orchid is widely known as the national flower of Manchukuo, it was rather an invention that faithfully follows the Japanese emperor system in accordance with the establishment of imperial regime in 1934. As the old saying “close friendship(金蘭之交)” contains a chinese character for the Noble Orchid, it soon became an imperial emblem of the state, representing the intimate relation between the Empire of Japan and Manchukuo.
Whereas the medal design in Manchukuo suggests various examples of both traditional elements and national symbols are used together. To name the few, the Collar of the Noble Orchid is the case that it directly adopts the flower; the Collar of the Divine Clouds shows that the composition of colours are exactly the same as the national flag. On the contrary, the image of a dragon, which was the symbol of the Chinese Emperor for a long period of time, was used in the Collar of the Man of the Virtue; similarly, motifs taken from the Chinese architecture, the Collar of the Land of Cassia, was given with the meaning of succeeding the long and noble tradition. But most of all, there is much attention towards the Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum worn by Pu Yi, due to its profound use of icons. Similar to the shape of necklace, a pattern of the Tashi Tag Gye (the eight auspicious symbols) is distinctive in the collar, but it is nonetheless the influence of symbols in Tibetan Buddhism that used to be protected by the Manchus (the Qing Dynasty), not Taoism. It can be assumed that, when Pu Yi was ascended to the throne, he expressed his will to revive the Qing Dynasty by wearing an imperial robe; however, as he lost his chance to revert to the old conventions soon after, he chose to put the collar on his military uniform instead.
It is an obvious fact that the attempts to create new tradition in Manchukuo were all implemented by the de facto ruler Japan (the Kwantung Army). Although the national symbols were produced under the influence and control of Japan, they were the visual outcomes of a constant dialogue between the past and present of China (the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China). In the national symbols, it can be said that a variety of factors were taken into account, such as the old longed for the dynasty, promoting the potential of the new nation, the concealment of its puppet state and so forth, revealing its multi-faceted aspects.
Followed up by serial theoretical discussions regarding the national symbols, the establishment of imperial regime had brought about the full use of Pu Yi’ portrait as the symbol of the state. But as it reached the peak in 1934, the decision was soon led to a contradiction ironically. For instance, the imperial emblem of Manchukuo was the Noble Orchid corresponding to that of the Empire of Japan, intimating that the state is subordinate to the Empire. However, under the Japan-centred ideology “all eight corners of the world under one roof(八紘一宇)”, it could not allow another emperor to coexist in the system of visual representation. In other words, it is not to much to say that the legislation of national symbols in Manchukuo was to create an image of “little emperor” or “feudal lord” whilst exposing its structural vulnerability.