Thanks for cross-posting this, so that I could point this out to the original author, which I left as a comment there:
Is that the flag for the “East Turkestan independence movement” in the third panel? As a Chinese I’m asking you to not use the flag of a separatist movement as though it is legitimate, especially when you’re comparing it to Israel and Palestine, where Israel is a genocidal settler state and Palestine is a sovereign state.
Xinjiang (what the separatists claim to be “East Turkestan”) is a part of China, the ETIM flag does not represent the people of Xinjiang and thus should not be used in this context.
In China, only the Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of Hong Kong and Macau have regional flags. We’re not like the US where each state has their own state flag, and I do not appreciate the idea of each province of China having its own provincial flag. If there could be provincial flags, there could be flags for every city/town/district/village, for every administrative region at each level, and if we want to be extreme, there could be flags for each family and for each individual.
While I am using a slippery slope argument of extreme individualism to oppose provincial flags, you can probably understand why this “individuality” has to stop somewhere.
There’s nothing wrong with being proud of a specific province/city/community, but any differences in human society can be used for reactionary division. Flags can be used for other purposes than as a symbol of national sovereignty, but a flag is also probably the most identifiable symbol of independence or separatist movements precisely because it can be seen as a symbol of national sovereignty. I think the political significance of flags outweigh any other aspects, if any.
At the end of the day, there’s nothing inherently wrong with having regional flags, but I oppose it.
Thanks for cross-posting this, so that I could point this out to the original author, which I left as a comment there:
I saw this as an idea for Chinese provincial flags, what do you think?
In China, only the Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of Hong Kong and Macau have regional flags. We’re not like the US where each state has their own state flag, and I do not appreciate the idea of each province of China having its own provincial flag. If there could be provincial flags, there could be flags for every city/town/district/village, for every administrative region at each level, and if we want to be extreme, there could be flags for each family and for each individual.
While I am using a slippery slope argument of extreme individualism to oppose provincial flags, you can probably understand why this “individuality” has to stop somewhere.
And… I don’t really see what is wrong in, say, being proud of the specific province you are from, or even what city you are from, for that matter.
There’s nothing wrong with being proud of a specific province/city/community, but any differences in human society can be used for reactionary division. Flags can be used for other purposes than as a symbol of national sovereignty, but a flag is also probably the most identifiable symbol of independence or separatist movements precisely because it can be seen as a symbol of national sovereignty. I think the political significance of flags outweigh any other aspects, if any.
At the end of the day, there’s nothing inherently wrong with having regional flags, but I oppose it.