Flag of the five founders used in Tiandihui initiation ceremony

The flags of the five founders were used during the Tiandihui initiation ceremony. They represented the five founders of the Hung Society as well as the provinces of the society's lodges. Representing the third principal lodge, the yellow flag with the red border shown is the ‘Jiahoutang’, or the Hall of the Royal Family. The flag bears the characters ‘lei’ and ‘he’ which mean ‘accord’ when combined together. These secret society paraphernalia were part of the William Stirling Collection. William Sterling was the Assistant Protector of Chinese in Singapore from 1921 to 1931.