The flag of the British authorities of the Weihaiwei Leased Territory was a Blue Ensign, a blue bunting with the British Union Jack in the upper corner, which was customary for British official flags.
United Kingdom introduced a flag system in 1864 in which: • war ships fly the "White Ensign" (naval flag), a white flag often with an uninterrupted red St. George's-Cross and with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag, • merchant ships fly a "Red Ensign" (also named "Civil Ensign" → civil flag, the real merchant flag), a red flag with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag, and • governmental ships fly the "Blue Ensign" (flag for the use by the gouvernment → the actual state flag), a blue flag with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag.
From 1865, ships of colonial governments were allowed to use a Blue Ensign with a badge in the flying end. The respective governments were to provide the corresponding bagdes. Such a badge was often a regional landscape depiction placed on a disc, often showed ships, historical events or could just be a kind of logo. A badge has appeared on the Weihaiwei authorities maritime flag (Blue Ensign) since 1903. It showed a pair of mandarin ducks, the male in the foreground and the female drinking in the background, on a reed-covered bank of a body of water. At sea, merchant ships and seafaring private individuals (British citizens) were required to fly the British merchant flag, the Red Ensign. In a few cases, the citizens of a colony were authorised by the Admiralty to use their own Red Ensign with the colony's badge at sea. However, there was no such authorisation for the Leased Territory of Weihaiwei. On land, the individual citizen and also the authorities represented their status as citizens or organs of the British nation, embodied in the United Kingdom, by using the Union Jack, then called the "Union Flag".
The badge (emblem) of Weihaiwei was initially the Chinese imperial dragon of the Qing dynasty. It was displayed on the flag of the British Commissioner. When the function of Commissioner passed from James Henry Cowan to James Stewart Lockhart in 1902, Lockhart decided to introduce an image of mandarin ducks as badge (emblem) and also for use on a newly introduced Blue Ensign. Lockhart considered it inappropriate to combine a British flag with a Chinese national symbol. His proposal was approved by the British Crown in 1903. The new badge (emblem) showed a pair of mandarin ducks, the male in the foreground and the female drinking in the background, on a reed-covered bank of a body of water.
Map of the country:
Source: Map of Weihaiwai 1910 in Reginald Fleming Johnston, The Lion and the Dragon in Northern China (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1910)
