When the British rock band (搖滾樂隊, yáo gǔn yuè duì) Suede rolled into the Shanghai Stadium on June 1 to prepare for their concert, they were met with a red velvet pennant with golden tassels (流蘇, liú sū) hanging by an ironing board backstage. On the fabric, gleaming golden letters in both Chinese and English read, "Sending our deepest love to Suede. We all become the beautiful ones in each other's life. From all your fans in China."

Receiving such a gift from fans for the first time, Suede's bass player (貝斯手, bèi sī shǒu) Mat Osman tweeted, "I decree that all Suede backstages from now on should contain…a Champions League style personalized pennant."

What Osman didn't realize, is that the longstanding Chinese tradition of gifting pennants (贈送錦旗, zèng sòng jǐn qí), or jinqi, has little to do with sport (despite their aesthetic similarities to soccer crests often exchanged between teams before matches). Instead, pennants, always featuring gold characters on red velvet, are symbols of honor and respect with ancient roots, and were once reserved for soldiers and doctors.

In ancient China, generals used comparable flags to command armies thanks to their distinctive colors and markings being visible from afar. Killing the enemy's top general (主將, zhǔ jiàng) and capturing their command flag (帥旗, shuài qí) was the greatest honor for a warrior in ancient warfare, and commanders would similarly reward their soldiers with decorated flags for feats of bravery on the battlefield.

However, during the Song dynasty (宋朝, sòng cháo) (960 – 1279), society favored refined intellectuals over battle-hardened generals (重文輕武, zhòng wén qīng wǔ). The Song emperors began to reward scholars who excelled on the imperial exams with jinqi. In his poetry, Song dynasty scholar Li Maoying (李昴英, lǐ mǎo yīng) described how people who passed the provincial round of the imperial exam celebrated by hanging a jinqi (掛旗, guà qí) at their front gate. Since then, these pennants have become a symbol of recognition for people's achievements.

Nowadays, walls adorned with jinqi from patients praising doctors for their surgical prowess (醫(yī)術(shù)高明, yī shù gāo míng) are a common sight in Chinese hospitals (醫(yī)院, yī yuàn). Such displays are also increasingly seen in police stations (警察局, jǐng chá jú), schools (學(xué)校, xué xiào), and even veterinary clinics (寵物醫(yī)院, chǒng wù yī yuàn).

"While there are many other common ways to express gratitude, like writing thank you letters or giving gifts (送禮, sòng lǐ) and red envelopes (紅包, hóng bāo), only pennants appear noble and also comply with legal, ethical, and cultural norms and customs," Dr. Cai Minkun wrote in the academic journal Medicine & Philosophy in 2021.

This rigid nomenclature makes jinqi well suited for showing appreciation to those in China's more staid positions, such as civil servants (公務(wù)員, gōng wù yuán), public officials (公職人員, gōng zhí rén yuán), and employees of state-owned enterprises (國企員工, guó qǐ yuán gōng). "Their leaders will notice their hard work when we gift them pennants. It can enhance their performance assessments (績效, jì xiào) and sometimes even lead to them winning annual outstanding employee awards," Tina Cao, who presented a pennant to a bank clerk in Hunan province this February, explains to TWOC. After seeing the extra care the employee had put into patiently helping her make an urgent wire transfer, Cao noted her name and immediately ordered a customized pennant on the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo.

When the 32-year-old showed up at the bank with a pennant in hand a week after her initial appointment, the employee and her boss were called. "It is a form of recognition for the leaders, too, because they nurtured the subordinates," Cao says, adding that she hopes it may result in a bonus for the staffer at her year-end review. Holding the bright red pennant reading "Dedicated Service, Caring for Customers (竭誠服務(wù)，關(guān)愛客戶, jié chéng fú wù , guān ài kè hù)," the three of them took a photo together. The employee was thrilled to receive her first jinqi, and Cao later detailed the experience on the social media platform Xiaohongshu.

The popularity of jinqi may also be attributed to their modest prices. "It's cheaper than a couple of milk teas," says Cao. She bought her pennant for less than 30 yuan. A search on the e-commerce platform Taobao reveals even high-end jinqi (高端錦旗, gāo duān jǐn qí), sometimes featuring hand-stitched embroidery (手工刺繡, shǒu gōng cì xiù), cost less than 300 yuan.

What people write on jinqi has also evolved over the years, especially now that younger generations are adopting the trend. A viral video posted by state media outlet People.cn in 2023 shows a young patient born in the 2000s presenting her ophthalmologist with a pennant adorned with a single number six—internet slang for "awesome." The doctor, sporting a broad but slightly awkward smile, accepted the pennant, clearly amused by its unconventional content.

來源：The World of Chinese
編輯：萬月英