Red Flags Over China
In recent years, China has stepped up its patriotic education campaign, which includes the mandatory display of national flags during public holidays. The result? At this time of year, red flags are everywhere. They flutter from office buildings, sprout from residential compounds, line the highways, and dangle from e-bikes. Step into a fancy Western restaurant in Nanjing and you’ll find not one, but two miniature flags planted right in the middle of your candlelit table, as if they’re part of the cutlery. Nothing says romance like a steak, a glass of Bordeaux, and the Motherland staring at you from between the salt and pepper shakers.
It reminded me of an old image: Wu Qinhua, the heroine of the revolutionary ballet The Red Detachment of Women, standing tall, clutching the national flag with tears streaming down her face.
But perhaps there’s a kind of continuity here. Then and now, the flag is everywhere: on the battlefield, on the stage, and, these days, on your dinner table next to the crème brûlée.