The national flag of the Republic of Korea (South Korea), also known as the Taegeukgi (Korean: 태극기; Hanja: 太極旗), consists of three components: a white rectangular background, a red and blue taegeuk in its center, accompanied by four black trigrams, one in each corner. The predecessors to the current Taegeukgi were used as the national flag of Korea by the Joseon dynasty, the Korean Empire, as well as the Korean government-in-exile during Japanese rule. emissary Robert Wilson Shufeldt suggested that Korea adopt a national flag to represent its sovereignty. Ma Jianzhong argued against Huang Zunxian's proposal that Korea adopt the flag of the Qing dynasty, and proposed a modified dragon flag. Derived from the Chinese I Ching and Taiji (philosophy), known in the west as the Yin and Yang, the blue half represents negative energy (Yin), and the red half represents the positive energy (Yang).