Talk of the Town

Flag Selling: Giving Back Like a Local

The Editorial Board, ExplainerHK

Hong Kong has its very own way of charity fundraising. Instead of selling cookies, lemonade or offering car wash, most Hong Kong charities go for “flag-selling” on Saturday mornings. The “flag” is referring to a fingertip-sized paper sticker, not the flags flying on a pole. This paper sticker gives no economic value to the donors, but it illustrates the long history of charity fundraising in the city.

How it Started

Back in the 1930s, Po Leung Kuk, one of the earliest local charities, started fundraising by selling paper flowers manually produced by their beneficiaries, who are mainly children and women. The paper flower was a successful launch. A typical selling day could raise about HK$8,000 which was equivalent to 74 times the average annual salary of a female worker at the time.

The Evolution: From Paper Flowers to Flags

As paper flowers became a popular fundraising practice among many charitable organizations in the 1950s, the production of labour-intensive paper flowers by the beneficiaries could no longer catch up with the high demand. Thus, charities started to commission factories to produce paper flowers. More types of flowers came to the market thanks to the professional workforce. The most basic flower was plum blossoms, folded in an ordinary plain textured paper. Institutions and socialites who donated a larger proportion may go for another more premium flower, which was usually roses folded in crepe paper.

However, the flower production cost was eating up the donations, making it an issue for the practice. The fundraising activity therefore once again evolved, from selling paper flowers to paper flags. Corporates, which were entitled to specially designed paper flags, would usually show off the flags on their vehicles’ windscreens.

While not everyone has a car, a spare pocket or a spare hand to show off a paper flag, some charities explored selling feathers instead of flags. Donors would receive a red chicken feather and they would pin it onto their clothes. Unfortunately, some donors complained about the possibility of getting injured by the pin.

Eventually, adhesive flags became a common solution due to their low production costs, lightweight, and convenience to wear. The designs of the paper stickers could easily come in different shapes and colours. Having one of the customized charity stickers on your chest could perhaps help you get through a crowd of flag sellers for the rest of the day , saving their effort to ask for your donation.

A Bigger Impact Than It Seems

A typical flag-selling day contains hundreds of volunteers, mainly primary and secondary school students, scattered around all parts of Hong Kong. On Saturdays, it is common to run into parents accompanying their kids to sell flags for charity. The fundraising exercise has become a part of moral education in Hong Kong, instilling the concept of charities to the young flag sellers.

Being one of the crowdest cities in the world, Hong Kong is lacking space for the youngsters to easily set up booths for selling cookies or lemonade on the street or parking lots. Selling paper stickers around the streets effectively serves as the community service 101 for the younger generation. They learn how to interact with strangers and the communities, how to handle rejections when donors say no or simply walk away from them.

The Rules

Through the 80-year history of flag selling, the Government has developed a mature regulatory system. The Social Welfare Department sets out clear regulations and only allows licensed charities and NGOs to apply for flagselling. Qualified organisations can only sell flags once a year. The flag-selling time is limited to Saturday morning, usually from 7 am to 12:30 pm, and assigned to a charity by lottery. With the increasing number of charities, the government has also allowed flag selling on Wednesday morning in the summer.

Source: Inland Revenue Departmant