Anybody watching the LLWS? What's up with Taipei's flag?

[JimSox5]

This should be a great deal less complicated than my last GQ thread. Anyway, I've been watching a lot of the Little League World Series. Chinese Taipei's (sp?) flag on ESPN isn't anything I've seen before. I can't find it anywhere on the internet, either. I'm used to seeing a mostly red flag, with a blue field in the upper left corner with a white sun inside. This flag is black with a white flower-like thing, and a purple circle inside of that. What's the story behind this flag?

[Earthling]

The flag you're used to seeing is the "national" flag of Taiwan (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/flags/tw-flag.html), or the Republic of China, as they probably prefer to call themselves -- and this whole political business of who is the real China has carried over into the sports world, where the Taiwanese delegation to the Olympics is also using a separate emblem (http://www.olympic.org/uk/organisation/noc/noc_uk.asp?noc_initials=TPE) and calling themselves "Chinese Taipei" instead of either Taiwan or Rep. of China. From your desciption, their Little League team's flag is very similar to their Olympic flag.

The flower-like thing is a stylized representation of a plum blossom (http://www.roc-taiwan.org/taiwan/5-gp/yearbook/national_flower.htm), which is their national flower.

[JimSox5]

Thanks, Earthling, that is the flower I have been seeing.