Shanghai, China

After United Kingdom's Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, orders for thousands of British flags were given to a factory in China. As per news agency The Associated Press, more than 100 employees were set aside from other work to make British-themed flags. This comes after a diplomatic spat saw Chinese officials barred from visiting the late monarch's coffin. 

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In the south of Shanghai, at the Shaoxing Chuangdong Tour Articles Co., employees were putting in around 14 hours per day and they used to start the work early in the morning. 

According to general manager Fan Aiping, they turned out at least 500,000 in the first week. The report mentioned that some British flags were to be carried by mourners or hung outside homes. Several flags showed the Queen's portrait and the years of her birth and death. 

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The flags that were made ranged from 21 to 150 centimetres wide and wholesale for about $1 each. 

As per Fan, the first customer sent an order at 3 am (local time) for tens of thousands of flags. She further added that the factory had around 20,000 in stock that were sent out that morning. 

Watch this report: 

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As quoted by AP, Fan said, "The customer came to our factory directly to grab the products. Many of the flags weren’t even packaged. They were put in a box and shipped away." 

An official Chinese delegation was banned from attending the Queen's lying-in-state following an intervention by House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle. 

But later, China's vice president Wang Qishan attended the Queen's funeral. Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a statement, "At the invitation of the UK government, President Xi Jinping's Special Representative Vice President Wang Qishan will attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II to be held in London on September 19." 

(With inputs from agencies) 

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