Category: China

• Time Period: Pre-WW1 Period
• Year of Institution: 20 March 1911
• Country: China

The Imperial Grand Order is a Chinese Order established on 20 March 20 1911 (alongside four other ones) to replace the Order of the Double Dragon. Given its origins and history, it was felt that the Double Dragon was no longer adequate to meet the needs of China as a modern nation. A new system of national honors was needed to serve diplomatic protocol and, more importantly, the needs of Chinese citizens including the Emperor.

On April 2, 1909 the boy Emperor Puyi (or the regent Prince Chun) directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Army Ministry, and the Administration Bureau to develop a new system of awards. Two years later on 20 March 1911, the Emperor approved the establishment of five new awards:

• The Grand Precious Order (Da Bao Zhang, 大宝章, also known in the West as the “Grand Order of the Throne”) intended for the Emperor.
• The Orders of the Red Dragon and the Yellow Dragon, for members of royal families.
• The Orders of the Blue Dragon and the Black Dragon, for nobles and high officials.

The first four existed in one class only, while the Black Dragon existed in eight classes.

The Imperial Grand Order Design

There are illustrations of this badge in the book Xun Zhang Tu (“Pictures of Orders”) or Ordres Imperiaux de Chine, which was printed for the Qing government by the royal press in Vienna.

The Order was a star comprising two rings of eight rays, one blue and one red, for a total of 16 points. The center medallion was bordered with pearls.

On the obverse, the Twelve Symbols of Imperial Authority are clearly visible as are the circle of pearls bordering the center medallion. According to the Book of Rites, one of the Five Classics of the Confucian canon, “Twelve is the number of Heaven”. The reverse bears the name of the Order (Da Bao Zhang, 大宝章) in the Chinese seal script. The breast star was the badge mounted on a star composed of eight groups of ascending diamond-cut rays.

The ribbon was Imperial yellow.

• Time Period: Pre-WW1 Period
• Year of Institution: 7 February 1882
• Country: China (Qing Dynasty)

The Imperial Order of the Double Dragon or ‘Double Dragon Precious Star’ (双龙宝星 in simplified Chinese, 雙龍寶星 in Chinese and Shuānglóng Bǎoxīng in pinyin) was an order awarded in the late Qing dynasty.

The Order was founded by the Guangxu Emperor on 7 February 1882 and awarded for outstanding services to the throne and the Qing court. It was the first Western-style Chinese order, established in the wake of the Second Opium War as part of efforts to engage with the West and adopt Western-style diplomatic practices.

Originally, the Order was bestowed only on foreigners but was extended to Chinese subjects from 1908. Traditionally the Chinese court did not have an honors system in the Western sense; however hat buttons, rank badges, feathers and plumes were routinely awarded by the Emperor to subjects and foreigners alike prior to and after the introduction of the Order of the Double Dragon.

The order was replaced in 1911 during the last days of the Qing dynasty by the Grand Order of the Throne, although this replacement was never fully implemented and the Republic of China discontinued the imperial orders after its establishment in 1912.

The order consisted of five classes, the first three of which were divided into three grades.

• First Class, First Grade: for emperors and kings of foreign nations.
• First Class, Second Grade: for princes, and royal family members and relatives (later limited to royal family members who had earned, and not inherited, senior positions in government).
• First Class, Third Grade: for ministers of who had inherited their position, general ministers, and diplomatic envoys of the first rank.
• Second Class, First Grade: for diplomatic envoys of the second rank.
• Second Class, Second Grade: for diplomatic envoys of the third rank and customs commissioners.
• Second Class, Third Grade: for counselors of the first rank, consul-generals and military generals.
• Third Class, First Grade: for counselors of the second and third rank, the entourage of consul-generals, and second-tier military officers.
• Third Class, Second Grade: for deputy consuls, and third-tier military officers.
• Third Class, Third Grade: for translators and military officers of the fourth and fifth tiers.
• Fourth Class: for soldiers and non-commissioned officers.
• Fifth Class: for businessmen and traders.

The Order of the Double Dragon Design

The order took on many different designs and forms, mostly differentiated by the type and size of precious stones inlaid, the shape of the medallion, the length of the ribbon, and the material used to construct the medallion until its abolition in 1911. Gold and pearl were reserved for the higher classes of the Order, and enamel and coral for the lowest classes.

The original designs were similar in style and appearance to traditional Chinese insignia, but they proved cumbersome for many to wear and in 1897 they were redesigned in the form of a Western-style breast-badge, although the original designs were still awarded for some time afterward. Similar symbolic motifs accompanied all designs over the award’s history, most notably two dragons surrounding a central precious stone and flames which were connotative symbols of imperial authority. Other symbols of imperial authority – mountains, clouds, plum blossoms, and characters with providential meanings – were added to variations of the designs over time.