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Zheltuga Republic (China)

Heilongjiang

image by Daniel Rentería, 30 November 2025
based on photo from https://ifz.ru/journals

About Zheltuga Republic
Flag
Army flag?

See also:

About Zheltuga Republic

This republic was located in northern Heilongjiang, later Manchukuo.

Overview
As an overview: The republic was a small self-proclaimed state that existed from 1883 to 1886. It was divided into five districts, having as its officers a president and ten starshinas (headmen) elected at the general meeting. Each district had two starshinas; and the term was for four months. It was founded because of the gold rush of 1883, being nicknamed the "Amur California" due to its inspiration by the California Gold Rush and primarily founded by illegal Russian miners; some of the miners also being Chinese.

Especially around the beginning, there was lots of lawlessness due to the fact people were digging as much as possible for the possibility of gold. The government of the republic was very harsh, punishments almost certainly being death. Apparently, it had 12000 people at its peak. In the end, it fell in January 1886 due to the Chinese finding out around July the previous year; after some warnings, the settlement was completely destroyed.

Daniel Rentería, 30 November 2025

Flag

In Chapter 14 of the founding regulations (found in The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 80 of 1897), it reads:
Every person who has a store, shop, or trading-place within the limits of the placer shall cause a flag to be displayed on the building in which such business is carried on. Failure to do so within three days from the date hereof shall be punished with a fine of from twenty-five to one hundred rubles.
Based on the photos, there were two flags: one with black above and another with yellow below, most likely because people did not care about the order of the colors. The one with black above seemed to be more official.

Daniel Rentería, 30 November 2025

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 30 November 2025
based on photo from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki

Army flag?

image located by Daniel Rentería, 30 November 2025

Some army flag (?) used by the miners appeared to have gold with a black canton. In the black canton is what appeared to be a sword. This flag remains undrawn as the design cannot be clearly confirmed; the usage is also unknown.
Daniel Rentería, 30 November 2025