An item reported that on 1 January 1873 the Chinese cabinet accepted a new triangular shaped imperial dark yellow coloured with in the centre a blue dragon. The length of the flag depended on the size of the warships. For ship with a length less than 200 feet was the length 11 feet, for ships with a length above the 200 feet was the length 12 feet. The flag was to be used by all warships built in the navy yards at Foochow and Shanghai and by the customs vessels. The flag was to be a symbol of the efforts to centralize the Chinese navy under direct control of the imperial government with admirals in the coastal stations responsible for the direct command. It was to end the independence of the provincial governments using their own flags on board of warships pretending they had all rights as if it were central government ships.
