Yesterday it was reported by Rick at inventorspot.com (also written about here at CNET) that the Chinese National Space Administration (English) has copied two Star Trek symbols in making its emblem.
United Federation of Planets + Starfleet= Chinese National Space AgencySource: Jacob1207
I posted a link to the story on my blog and got this interesting response in defense of the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA).
Their symbol it seems has been incorperated into the China National Space Administration's emblem.
Seeing as Commander Spock tell us (well, Captain Kirk) that "Insufficient facts always invite danger" and Comrade Deng Xiaoping tells us to seek "Truth from facts" (实事求是), I think this question deserves a little more Starfleet style investigation.So the question remains, is this a coincidence? Plagiarism?A case of Concord/Concordski-Space Shuttle/Buran multiregional evolution? Vulcan time travel? Or is it part of a Romulan plot, a ploy to start a war?
The origins of China's space program do date back before 1966. The CNSA, founded in 1993, and the CASC, organized in 1999, both trace their origins to the 1950's via various precursor agencies, namely the Defence Ministry's Fifth Research Academy (国防部第五研究院), the later 第七机械工业部 in 1965 and the Chinese Aerospace Industry Section (航天工业部) in 1982/3. (Histories in Chinese- here and here and here). However, I haven't yet found any hard evidence that the symbol is that old.
The similarities in the 人 and the Starfleet insignia could be a coincidence, but the addition of the olive branchs just asks for scrutiny. It's really not that big of a deal since, as Ryan points out on his CNET blog, the United Federation of Planets in Star Trek is merely a rip-off of the United Nations symbol, but if this is an attempt to cover it up, it really is quite silly.
My suspicion is that this is a case of fan non-canon fiction, or historical revisionism, depending on who you hang with, Trekkies or party cadres. I'd like to believe the Chinese Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation's explanation, however, it is unusually thorough which is often a hallmark of having something to hide or covering one's tracks, especially the part that says the emblem is protected by law.
I also have doubts that the 人 character predates the 1966 since the precursor agencies were initially more concerned with guided missile development, rather than space exploration (especially human space exploration) unless it just stands for a good ol' 人民 as in People's Republic of China, but then again the meaning of 人民 over time has been flexible as well (not gonna go there).
It also might just be a rip-off of the Russian Federal Space Agency's emblem.
The answer probably lies in one of these many websites or some decade old book on a shelf at a university or second hand bookstore in China. Let me know if anyone finds anything. I'd like to get to the bottom of this one.
Personally, I don't think there is anything wrong if the symbol is a rip-off of Star Trek. Star Trek embodies a noble dream for humanity's future in space, very fitting as an emblem for the space program that represents one in every six people in the world.
And let's not forget, the name of NASA's experimental space shuttle was Enterprise.
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CNSA's logo is not a rip-off. Here's an description of a similar logo (in Chinese)
The arrow in middle has similar shape as the Chinese character 人 which means 'human' or 'people' (which is the center of all space explorations). The three concentric circles (actually ellipses in CNSA's logo) stand for three Escape Velocities (minimum speed needed to move around earth, to escape earth system and to escape the solar system, which are three milestones for human's space exploration). The 'human surrounded by three circles' logo may exist in 1950s when the administration was founded, way before Star Trek was filmed in 60s. They changed the logo later by :
1. making the 人 stand above the three rings to emphasize on human's capability to 'escape' and explore
2. drawing the second ring with a bold line, to state that China has passed the first stage (earth system) and undergoing second stage exploration (withing the solar system).
3. adding olive branches to state that China's space exploration is peaceful.
CNSA's logo is original with strong symbolism. It's just a coincidence that it looks similar to Star Trek's. Or maybe Vulcans know Chinese so they understand the 人 character?