Chiang Kai-Shek Medal to Foreign Officers

[JapanX]

How do you like this one Gent`s?

Made in silvered bronze.

Diameter 48 mm.

Amazing design of suspension.

Reverse engraved in French "JANVIER 1925".

The reason for atribution it to Chiang Kai-Shek is not known to me

Obverse

[JapanX]

Reverse

[JapanX]

Details

[JapanX]

[JapanX]

[JapanX]

Reverse inscription

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

It has nothing to do with Chiang Kai-Shek.

 

 

 

ZI KA WEI, located at the limit of the south-western Shanghai French Concession, is a French center for science and spirituality that was set up by the Jesuits in 1873. The awe-inspiring scientific institute was combined with the main residence of the Jesuit fathers in China and the work of the missionaries. A significant center for spiritual and scientific research. The medal is meant to commemorate the stays of religious or scientific individuals. It is often dated on the reverse and always in French with an enameled clasp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

Edited November 1, 2023 by No one

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

A google translation of this article : L’observatoire de Zi-Ka-Wei (en 1905) - Gloubik Sciences

 

The Zi-Ka-wei Observatory ( [1]) is built 1 kilometer from the village of that name, situated in a vast plain 6 kilometers to the S.W. in Shanghai, in a completely secluded garden. This property overlooks the neighbouring houses at a distance of more than 200 metres; the latitude of the Observatory is 51°12'50" N.; 53 longitude of 117°56'25"E. of Paris; The altitude of the barometer basin is about 7 meters.

The name Zi-Ka-wei recalls that of the famous minister Siu Kouang-ki (Zi is the local pronunciation of Siu), who, in the Chinese Ming dynasty, bore the title of Co-lao, which today is equivalent to that of tchoung-tang or Grand Secretary; Siu, who was born in 1562, at Shanghai; was baptized under the name of Paul by Fr. Jean de Rocha, in 1562, at the moment when he was leaving for Pe-king to undergo the examinations of the doctorate: having lost his father in 1607, and consequently obliged to retire from business in order to complete the regular period of mourning, he returned to his country with Fr. Cattaneo, which laid the foundations of the Mission of Shanghai, which took on a great development under the direction of Fr. Brancati who arrived in 1637; Siu had died at Pe-king in 1633, but his body was brought back to his native country; his solemn funeral was celebrated at Shanghai in 1641, and his remains were laid to rest in a tomb which was, after him, named Siu-Kia-wei (Zi-Ka-wei). The 300and The anniversary of Siu's baptism was celebrated with great pomp on 1st November 1905, at Zi-Ka-wei.

 

The mission of the Jesuits in the province of Kiang-Su naturally declined after the suppression of the Society of Jesus and the death of the bishop of Nan-King, M.Gr Laimbeckhoven, arrived May 22, 1787. On June 12, 1842, the two Jesuits, Claude Gotteland, from Savoy, and François Estève, from Paris, arrived at Kiang-Sou and took possession of their former mission, which was handed over to them by M.Gr of Besi, who administered it provisionally.

In March, 1847, the Jesuits bought a property in the village of Zi-Ka-wei, whose population consisted of a few dozen farmers, descended from Siu-Kouang-k'i; at the beginning of 1851 the establishment of Zi-Ka-wei was constituted as a regular residence.

It is not within my scope to describe this immense establishment; I can say, however, that it serves as the central residence for the whole mission and includes, in addition to the Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory, the scholasticate of the Society, the major seminary, a college (Chinese studies for all, French for 67 and Latin for a few), 151 students, and a Museum of Natural History, created and directed by Fr. Pierre Heude, died Jan. 3, 1902; To the Zi-Ka-wei establishment is attached the orphanage of Tou-sê-wé, half a mile away, intended to train poor children into good workmen capable of earning a living.

The Observatory was established in 1873, and I still remember its humble beginnings; its directors were successively Fr. Augustin Colombel (1873-1874); Henri Le Lec (1875-1876); Marc Dechevrens (1877-1887), from Chène (canton of Geneva), now director of the St. Helier Observatory; Bernard Ooms (1888, 1891); Stanislas Chevalier (1889-1890, 1892-1897); Louis Froc (1898) .

 

 

As early as 1874, Fr. Colombel and Fr. Le Lec began the publication of the meteorological observations made in 1873; Since January 1877, Fr. Marc Dechevrens has published a Monthly Bultetin of the Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory which has been published regularly since that time in large in-4° notebooks. In addition to this bulletin, the Observatory publishes Memoirs on typhoons, variations of the magnetic needle, and terrestrial magnetism. Father Chevalier has published a considerable work: Atlas of the Upper Yangtze; a long and fruitful journey to Se-tchouan enabled this learned missionary to make, from November 1897 to March 1898, the surveys necessary for the execution of his Atlas of I-tchang-fou at Ping-chan-hien, which consists of 64 sheets on a scale of 1:25000and ; The considerable work of Father Chevalier may be judged simply by regard to the stations astronomically recorded from I-chang to Ping-chan, by remarking that, not to mention the observations of the passage of stars at the meridian (which are about 450 in number), not counting the observations made between I-chang and Shang-hai, there are more than 800 points of the sun or stars in height; each point was calculated separately according to a rigorous method; On April 26, 1901, the Société de Géographie de Paris awarded this Atlas the gold medal of the Prix Logerot.

It is also the Zi-Ka-wei Observatory that has published, since its inception in 1892, the annual report of the Shanghai Meteorological Society, which is published in English; it gives the signal every day to the port of Shanghai, by the fall of a ball which is dropped eletrically on the quay of the French concession at a distance of 8 kilometers. The Observatory is connected with many posts, from Nicolaevsk on the Amur to Saigon, and from Nemuro (Yezo) to Semipalatinsk or Kuldja. The services rendered to navigators are incalculable in seas devastated by typhoons, so it is not surprising that M. Doumer in Tonkin, the Germans in Tsing- tao, have called upon the enlightenment of Father Froc to establish their posts of meteorological observation.

Moreover, the Observatory is responsible for reporting to the port of Shanghai all phenomena of interest to navigation in the vicinity of the Far East. The code of these signals, officially accepted by Sir Robert Hart, has been in use since the beginning of 1898 in all the ports of China where the administration of the Imperial Customs is situated.

For the past three years, the Observatory has published a Calendar-Directory which contains a wealth of useful information. All services at the Institution were transferred on 1he January 1901 in new buildings.

Another astronomical observatory was built on the hill of Zô-sè, about 100 meters high, 8 leagues W.-S.W. Zi-Ka-wei; It consists of a rotunda 10 metres in diameter, enclosed in a second, wider one which leaves a corridor 2 metres wide around the first. It encloses the equatorial telescope of 6.50m long; Its cross-section measures 0.80m x 0.40m. A central partition divides it along its entire length into two square tubes of 40 centimetres on each side.

At the upper end of these tubes are screwed the two lens barrels.

Three buildings radiate from the rotunda: the first, to the east, houses the library and the meridian telescope, which is 60 centimetres long and the lens is 6 centimetres in diameter; it was also used for several years by Zi-Ka-wei, for the adjustment of the chronometer; the second building, to the west, contains three living rooms, and the third, to the south, which is a little shorter than the other two, is used as an office for the calculators. The observatories of Zi-Ka-wei and Zô-sè serve well the glory of France in the Far East.

 

 

Your Testimonials:

 

The Zi-Ka-Wei area under the protection of the "Marsouins" (1937/1939)11 January 2015 17:51, by FABRE Claude

 

During the Sino-Japanese War, when the Japanese were preparing to take Shanghai, the Catholic Mission area around the Observatory was in Chinese territory, adjoining the west of the French Concession. In order not to expose them to the savagery of the fighting and the Japanese occupation, Commander FABRE Amédée, commander of the 2and The Chinese Marching Battalion, which had come as reinforcements from Tonkin, took on its own initiative, with the consent of RP Jacquinot de Besanges, Director of the Observatory, the decision to advance its front line to cover the entire territory of the Missions (ZI-Ka-Wei, the orphanages of Tou-Sê-Wé) backed by the French Concession, and to place it under the military protection of its unit. When the Japanese troops descended on Shanghai, they found the entry roads closed by the strongpoints where the French flag was flying. The whole thing was executed without firing a gun but with the firmness (and diplomacy!) necessary to impress the Japanese! I was 13 years old at the time and I experienced this period as an epic! My father (who ended his career as a brigadier general) was elevated by the Vatican, for this action, to the order of Commander of St. Gregory the Great, in a military capacity.

 

Zi-Ka-Wei Observatory (in 1905)12 July 2014 16:18, by BRUN Philippe

 

In the 1920s, my grandfather, Jean, Marie BRUN, a long-distance captain and captain of ocean liners at the Couriers Maritimes, wrote a pamphlet on "Cyclones in the Philippines and the China Seas". He also invented and manufactured a device for forecasting cyclones, which he called a "cyclonometer." To this end, he was in close contact with RP Froc, then director of the observatory, for whom he had a deep admiration and a great deal of gratitude. I have these documents and this device in my possession.

 

There are three more articles:

 

- L’observatoire de Zi-Ka-Weï (en 1899) - Gloubik Sciences

- Une œuvre scientifique en Extrème-Orient : L’observatoire de Zi-Ka-Wei - Gloubik Sciences

- Le père des typhons : le R.P. Louis Froc - Gloubik Sciences

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

 

[No one]

Dear Gentlement,

 

I believe I have found the source of this misidentification.

 

The Hong Kong Coin Auction catalogue 53 (A H Baldwin & Sons ; Ma Tak Wo Numismatic Co Ltd, [August 23rd, 2012])

 

 

- page 125 :

 

 

- number 1029:

 

 

Even experts can make mistakes from time to time. 'Errare humanum est'.

 

"Tolerance is the key to harmony which is the gateway to happiness."

(No one, philosopher in his spare time)

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

Edited April 15 by No one

[Gordon Craig]

No one,

Interesting story on this medal.  Good work in tracing the error of attribution to Chiang Kai Shek.

Regards,

Gordon

 

[No one]

Dear Gordon Craig,

 

Thank you. Zi-Ka-Wei's history is captivating, but certain stories are more captivating than ever, with spy novel-style storytelling.

 

Yours sincerely,

No one