Orders, Decorations, Medals and Badges at the Chinese Aviation Museum

[LapisChicken]

Hello everyone! I have been sorting through the ODM photos I took at a few military museums in Beijing last Autumn, beginning with the Chinese Aviation Museum (中国航空博物馆), which is affiliated with the PLAAF, at Xiaotangshan in the Changping District, quite a lengthy bus ride from the city but so worth it if you also happen to want to see an overwhelming number of MiG-15s. This was also after their recent renovation so maybe you can expect some new medals if you've been there before?

 

I thought it would be nice to catalogue the ODM on display in Chinese museums seeing that there aren't really good photos online, I'm still figuring out how to use a camera and didn't manage to capture much of the context around the exhibits, but I did my best to capture everything on display in decent quality! Please let me know if you know a good place where I can post all the plane pictures I took also!

 

Standard disclaimer about you know... historical perspective and authenticity... I've done my best to translate the names of the ODM but please let me know if you have a better translation as I was not able to find many English sources online and I'm not incredibly proficient in Chinese! I will be putting the photos up over the next few weeks in this thread so do keep a lookout!

 

First up!

 

The Orders belonging to Air Force Major General Xue Shaoqing (薛少卿).

 

If you would like to learn more about him I believe there is a biography of him: 《让昨天告诉今天 —— 记薛少卿将军与陈岩女士》

Please do feel free to obtain the book for your viewing using your respective (legal, hint hint) methods! (I have the text but I read Chinese very slowly so it is going to be a while if I get around to it)

 

Medal Index Card:

[I will be transcribing the originally Traditional Chinese document in Simplified Chinese]

 

[1st Page, top to bottom]

姓名: 薛少卿 (Name: Xue Shaoqing)

出生时间: 1911.10 (Date of Birth: October 1911)

性别: 男 (Gender: Male)

民族: 汉 (Ethnicity: Han Chinese)

籍贯: 湖北监利 (Place of Birth: Jianli County, Hubei Province)

 

证书号码: 100280 (Certificate Number: 100280)

 

[The seal on the 1st Page]

中华人民共和国 (The People's Republic of China)

证书用章 (Seal for Certificates)

国防部 (Ministry of National Defense)

 

[2nd Page, top to bottom]

勋章名称 (Medal Name) / 命令发出时间 (Date of Directive)

勋章号码 (Medal Number) / 命令编号 (Directive Number)

 

一级解放勋章 (Order of Liberation 1st Class) / 1955.9.23

02147 / 第一号 (Directive No. 1)

 

二级八一勋章 (Order of Bayi 2nd Class) / 1957.7.27

02072

 

二级独立自由勋章 (Order of Independence and Freedom 2nd Class) / 1957.7.27

03909

 

附注 (Note:)

1. 本证书不得遗失 (1. Do not lose this certificate)

2. 本证书不得借与他人 (2. Do not give this certificate to other people)

 

The Orders:

(Left to right)

 

Order of Liberation 1st Class, Order of Bayi 2nd Class,Order of Independance and Freedom 2nd Class 

[LapisChicken]

The Cases for the Orders:

(Same order as above)

[LapisChicken]

Soviet Union, Aviation School Badges belonging to Air Force Lieutenant General Chang Qiankun (常乾坤) [Replica]

 

Chang Qiankun (1904-1973), born in Shanxi Province, was one of the first pilots in the Communist Party of China and a founding member of the PLAAF. He was sent to the Soviet Union in 1926 to study aviation with the Red Army, and in 1932 he enrolled in the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. He returned to China in 1938 due to the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, where he participated in setting up and running Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering Schools. After the founding of the PRC, he served in posts such as Deputy Commander of the PVAAF and PLAAF.

 

These badges are replicas of the ones he wore while studying in the Soviet Union.

[LapisChicken]

PLAAF Distinguished Aircraft Engineer Medal, 1985 (空军优秀机务工作者奖章)

 

Edited Wednesday at 13:36 by LapisChicken

[LapisChicken]

North Korea, Order of the National Flag 1st Class belonging to Air Force Major General Duan Suquan (段苏权)

 

Duan Suquan (1916-1993), born in Hunan Province, joined the Communist Party of China in 1930. He served as the first Deputy Commander of the PVAAF and Commander of the 2nd Air Force, then as the North China Military Region Air Force Commander in the Korean War, where he was awarded the Order of the National Flag 1st Class.

[Megan]

Amazing, some wholly-new awards and others rarely-seen: Chinese awards, particulary those of the Communist state, are poorly docimented. Keepup the good work, thank you!

 

Or perhaps I should say, 謝謝

[LapisChicken]

谢谢您! It really bothers me that I cannot seem to find any order of precedence beyond the main few awards, and it seems like there are a lot of organisations that are authorised to create awards, so it is difficult to figure out how prestigious a particular award is and in what situations it can be worn...

 

Next up!

 

The Orders and Insignia belonging to Korean War Fighter Ace Air Force General Wang Hai (王海)

 

Wang Hai (1926-2020), born in Shandong Province, graduated from the Fighter Pilot Training Program in May 1950. Posted to the 3rd Fighter Aviation Division, he became the 7th highest scoring Chinese fighter pilot of the Korean War, with an official tally of 4 kills and 5 damaged. He went on to serve as the Guangzhou Military Region Air Force Commander and then overall Commander of the PLAAF.

 

Cap Badge used by Wang Hai when Deputy Commander of the 3rd Fighter Aviation Division

 

 

Air Force General Rank Epaulettes Awarded upon Promotion in 1988

 

 

North Korea, Order of the National Flag 1st Class with Collar

 

The Collar and what appears to be a Collar Badge? are new to me and I have yet to seen one in wear or anywhere online for that matter.

 

 

North Korea, Order of the National Flag 1st Class

 

This was labelled as a 2nd Class set of insignia but the colour and ribbon both correspond to the 1st Class award.

Edited yesterday at 10:36 by LapisChicken

[LapisChicken]

The Medals and Awards belonging to Aircraft Engineer Tao Zhuping (陶铸平)

 

Tao Zhuping served in the 6th Regiment, 2nd Fighter Aviation Division during the Korean War.

 

Congratulatory Bulletin for Meritorious Service, 1953 (功力喜报)

 

I think these are really interesting because unlike usual Letters of Commendation or Mentions in Despatches, traditionally for such Chinese awards soldiers would go to the recipient's village with banners, and it is a grand event kind of like a procession, where the bulletin would be presented to the recipient's family, hence the bulletin being addressed to Tao Zhuping's relative, Tao Zhuqing. You can definitely find pictures of the procession by searching 功力喜报 on Google!

 

[The letter is written right to left, top to bottom the way traditional Chinese documents are written, the bolded sections indicate the handwritten portions and the bracketed portions are those which are too damaged to read, the templated parts have been matched with other copies found online but the number and class of commendation is not able to be determined]

 

革命军人立功喜报
(PLA Soldier's Congratulatory Bulletin for Meritorious Service)

 

陶铸青先生:
(Mr. Tao Zhuqing: )
 

贵府陶铸平同志在工作
(In his work, your family's Comrade Tao Zhuping)
 

中，创立功绩，业经批准记 (?) 等
(has achieved exemplary results, and has hence been approved to be awarded the (?) class commendation)
 

功 (?) (次)；除按功给奖外，特此
((?) times; in addition to the rewards given to him, this letter has been sent to)
 

(报喜) 恭贺 (陶) 铸平同志为人民
(bring the joyous news congratulating Comrade Tao Zhuping's)
 

(立) 功，全家光荣
(meritorious service to the people, bringing glory to his family)

 

中国人民解放军华东军区空军 司令/政治 部
(PLA East China Military Region Air Force Headquarters/Political Commissar's Department)

 

一九五三年七月二十三日
(23 July 1953)

 

 

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Commemorative Medal for the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, 1951 (中国人民政治协商会议全国委员会抗美援朝纪念章)

 

This medal seems to be an official medal issued by one of the state's political organs.

 

Edited yesterday at 14:32 by LapisChicken

[LapisChicken]

 

Chinese People's Representative's Welfare Visit to the PLA Commemorative Medal for the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, 1954 (全国人民慰问解放军代表团抗美援朝纪念章)

 

This medal seems to be a medal prepared by a group of volunteers during a visit to the front lines, akin to an unofficial medal. I could not find an elegant way to translate the visit, but effectively, traditionally in the Chinese Military, the same way soldiers from other countries receive care and relief packages, groups of volunteers, from different levels such as provincial all the way to national like this one, would organise visits to the front line, where they would distribute food, put up performances to raise the morale of the soldiers, and sometimes distribute awards and medals like this one. This medal was distributed during a visit by nation-wide representatives for PLA soldiers on 17 February 1954.

 

[Megan]

With reference to your North Korean Order of the National Flag... Mario Volpe, who creates beautiful paintings of world orders, shows a collar the same as the one you've presented:

 

The oval gold piece is not a collar badge, it's used as a connecting link to attach the star to the collar.

 

This is the way that the Order of Freedom and Independence collar works as well.

[Megan]

Doing a bit more delving, the collar of the Order of the National Flag is normally only awarded to foreigners - so your Chinese recipient would qualify - although Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Il Suk awarded the collar to themselves, the only North Koreans believed to hold it.

 

Oh, and the oval gold connecting piece is a "national emblem", it seems.

Awards of class 2 and class 3 to foreigners can be presented on a neck ribbon,again using the national emblem as a suspension link. Here is a Class 3 mounted thus:-

 

[LapisChicken]

Ooh thank you for the information! I love Mario Volpe's illustrations but it is an unfortunate time not to be able to understand Italian...

 

That is a really interesting method of suspension this is the first I've seen of a breast star being attached to a collar! The 3rd class on a neck ribbon is sure an odd sight, would you happen to know if the collar is considered a different "class" of the order or if it is a variation in presentation of the same award?

 

The emblem does appear to be a national emblem, it appears on the cover of the award documents, I have some pictures of those coming up! Also interesting that the Order of the National Flag and Order of Freedom and Independance share the same collar design it seems?

 

Thanks again for the help with the research!

[LapisChicken]

Speaking of the Order of Freedom and Independance...

 

The Orders and Decorations belonging to Korean War Fighter Pilot Air Force Lieutenant General Jiang Zhen (江震)

 

Jiang Zhen, born in Zhejiang Province, enlisted in the PLA in 1947, completing Aviation School in 1951. Flying in the 15th Fighter Aviation Division, he tied for the 12th highest scoring Chinese fighter pilot of the Korean War, with an official tally of 4 kills. He subsequently rose to become the Shenyang Military Region Air Force Deputy Commander.

 

North Korea, Order of the National Flag 3rd Class with Award Document, and Order of Independence and Freedom 2nd Class, 1953

 

According to the display, these were awarded on 13 March and 25 October 1953 respectively, it is unclear if he was awarded the Order of the National Flag 3rd Class twice or if he received two sets of insignia (troubles with award systems without multiple award bars amirite...) 

 

 

Liberation Medal (解放勋章) with Award Document, 1955

 

Edited 2 hours ago by LapisChicken

[LapisChicken]

 

Commemorative Medal for the 1st PLAAF Heroic, Exemplary and Meritorious Member's Congress (空军首届英雄模范功臣代表大会纪念章) with Award Document, 1955

 

This also seems to be more of a Chinese cultural thing but they tend to host seminars where they invite representatives (hence "Congress") among a group of people, usually distinguished workers or soldiers, and invite them to share ideas and have discussions and such.