Flag of South Vietnam

South Vietnam

Name	Flag of the Republic of Vietnam (Heritage and Freedom Flag - Lá cờ Tự Do và Di Sản), Gold Flag with Three Red Stripes Cờ vàng ba sọc đỏ
Use	Civil and state flag
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	June 14, 1949
Design	Yellow flag with three red stripes.
Designed by	Lê Văn Đệ
Variant flag of South Vietnam
Name	Flag of the RVNMF.
Use	War flag
Design	Yellow flag with three red stripes, and the emblem of RVNMF (gold eagle) in the middle.
Designed by	Design is a variant of the flag of South Vietnam.

The flag of South Vietnam was originally inspired by Emperor Thành Thái in 1890, and was revived by Lê Văn Đệ and re-adopted by Emperor Bảo Đại in 1948. It was the flag of the former State of Vietnam (the French-controlled areas in both Northern and Southern Vietnam) from 1949 to 1955, and later of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) up until 1975, after the fall of Saigon. The flag consists of a yellow field and three horizontal red stripes and can be explained as either symbolising the unifying blood running through northern, central, and southern Vietnam, or as representing the symbol for "south" (as in, south from China (Viet Nam itself) and also nam meaning south), in Daoist trigrams.

It is still used by many Vietnamese immigrants to other countries, most of whom (Viet Kieu) fled Vietnam in the late 1970s and 1980s as Boat People and consider the current Vietnamese flag representative of the Communist regime they fled. From June 2002 onward, in the United States, at least 13 state governments, seven counties and 85 cities in 20 states have adopted resolutions recognizing the yellow flag as the Vietnamese Heritage and Freedom Flag. In Vietnam, attempts to display this flag had resulted in prosecutions for "propaganda against the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam".

During the reign of Emperor Gia Long (1802–1820), the yellow flag was also used as the symbol of the Empire of Vietnam. This was continued as the Emperor's flag when the Court of Hue became a French protectorate.

In 1890, the Emperor Thành Thái issued a decree, adopting the yellow flag with three red stripes for the first time as the national flag (Đại Nam (National Flag) 1890-1920). Some claim this flag (called The Yellow Flag for short) is the first true "national flag" of the Vietnamese people for it reflects the aspiration and hope of the people, not just the emperors, for independence and unification of the Viet nation. The meaning and design of Thành Thái's flag and artist Lê Văn Đệ's flag are almost the same - gold background with 3 horizontal red stripes across the center representing Vietnam's 3 geographic & cultural regions (Northern, Central, and Southern), but Thành Thái's flag had stripes which are lighter red and more wider.