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.
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.
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