Obverse stars

Stars often appear on the obverse of Maozhang, arranged around the rim or in the sky above a revolutionary sacred site, especially Jinggangshan. In other cases, stars appear below Mao's portrait in varying numbers. A single star signifies the CCP and five stars, one larger four smaller, echo the number on the national flag. Nine stars cannot, however, be automatically assigned to the 9th National Congress of 1969 because two of the nine-starred badges here are dated 1968.