The United States of America
The flag of the United States of America consists of 13 equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing 50 small, white, five-pointe stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 U.S. states and the 13 stripes represent the original Thirteen Colonies that rebelled against the British Crown and became the first states in the Union. Nicknames for the flag include the Stars and Stripes, Old Glory, and the Star-Spangled Banner (also the name of the country's official national anthem).
Because of its symbolism, the starred blue canton is called the "union". This part of the national flag can stand alone as a maritime flag called the Union Jack.
Russia
The flag of Russia is a tricolor of three equal horizontal fields, white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for merchant and war ships and only became official in 1896.It was not until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the tricolor was brought back as the official flag of the new Russian Federation. The flag of Russia provided the Pan-Slavic colours of red, blue and white that appear in the flags of Slavic countries (including the Czech republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Serbia).
Japan
The national flag of Japan is a white flag with a large red circle (representing the rising sun) in the center. Along with the national anthem Kimi ga Yo, the Hinomaru is considered a controversial symbol of the militaristic past of the country. Use of the Hinomaru was also severely restricted during the early years of the American occupation of the country after World War II, although restrictions were later relaxed. Since World War II, the display of the flag of Japan is mostly limited to buildings attached to national and local governments such as city halls, and it is rarely seen in private homes or commercial buildings.
China
The flag of the Peole's Republic of China, the Five-Starred Red Flag, was designed by Zeng Liansong, an economist and artist and artist from Rui'an, Zhejiang.
The current design uses red as its background and bright yellow for its stars. The red background symbolizes the blood of heroes who died during the revolution. The yellow colour mainly symbolizes the glorious history and culture of the Chinese people and was partly inherited from the colours of the flag of Soviet Union, which was also a combination of red and yellow, in which case the yellow symbolizes the brightness of the communist future.
The larger star symbolizes the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the four smaller stars that surround the big star symbolize the four classes of Chinese that were considered unitable by Mao at that historical time; these are the Workers, Peasants, Petty Bourgeoisie (i.e. Small Business Class), and National Bourgeoisie (i.e. Chinese non-governmental businessmen)
Korea
The flag of South Korea, or Taegukgi has three parts: a white background; a red and blue taegeuk in the center; and four black trigrams, one in each corner of the flag.
The four trigrams originate in the chinese book I Ching, representing the four Chinese philosophical ideas about the universe: harmony, symmetry, balance, circulation. The general design of the flag also derives from traditional use of the tricolor symbol (red, blue and yellow) by Koreans starting from the early era of Korean history. The white background symbolizes "cleanliness of the people." The taegeuk represents the origin of all things in the universe; holding the two principles of "Yin", the negative aspect rendered in blue, and "Yang", the positive aspect rendered in red, in perfect balance. Together, they represent a continuous movement within infinity, the two merging as one. The four trigrams are:
Traditionally, the four trigrams are related to the five elements of fire, water, earth, wood, and metal.