The Imperial Order of the Double Dragon () was an order awarded in the late Qing dynasty.
The Order was founded by the Guangxu Emperor on 7 February 1882 as an award for outstanding services to the throne and the Qing court. Originally it was awarded only to foreigners but was extended to Chinese subjects from 1908. 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. Traditionally the Chinese court did not have an honours 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 Order of the Imperial Throne, although this replacement was never fully implemented and the Republic of China discontinued the imperial orders after its establishment in 1912.
Design The order took on many different designs and forms until its abolition in 1911. Gradations were distinguished most commonly by differentiation in 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. Gold and pearl were reserved for the higher classes, 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 afterwards. 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.
Classes The order consisted of five classes, the first three of which were divided into three grades. The rules for award and the nature of the gradations was set out in the statues establishing the award in 1882. The rules were modified somewhat in 1897.
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, consuls-general and military generals Third Class, First Grade: for counselors of the second and third rank, the entourage of consuls-general, 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
Recipients Despite the comprehensive ranking system, the actual awarding of the classes was lopsided, and very few Fourth or Fifth class were ever given. The much higher ranking of translators and other civil servants in the system compared to even the wealthiest Western industrialists and businessmen was in part reflecting of the traditional Chinese antipathy towards profit-seeking and commercial individuals, compared to the honour accorded to the civil service. Despite patriarchal traditions however, foreign women were bestowed the order, including Canadian missionary Leonora King and American artist Katherine Carl. Native Chinese were granted the right to order in 1908, but very few Chinese ever received the award and it remained an order overwhelmingly awarded to foreigners.
Awards to the imperial family Guangxu Emperor, Sovereign Xuantong Emperor, Sovereign Zaitao
Chinese recipients Li Hongzhang Yinchang Liang Dunyan Lu Zhengxiang Hu Weide Wu Lien-teh
Foreign recipients Class I Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, Class I Grade I in Diamonds, 4 May 1896 Frederick III, German Emperor, Class I Grade I Leopold II, King of the Belgians, Class I Grade I Albert I, King of the Belgians, Class I Grade I Meiji, Emperor of Japan, Class I Grade I, 20 December 1898 Gojong, Emperor of Korea, Class I Grade I, 1 December 1903 Abu Bakar, Sultan of Johor, Class I Grade I, 1892 Pakubuwono X, Susuhunan of Surakarta, Class I Grade I Sadanaru, Prince Fushimi, Class I Grade I, 27 April 1909 (Class I Grade II: 27 November 1904) Henry, Prince of Prussia, Class I Grade II Georg, Prince of Bavaria, Class I Grade II, 1903 Eitel Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, Class I Grade II Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Class I Grade II Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Class I Grade II Morimasa, Prince Nashimoto, Class I Grade II, 20 May 1903 Hiroyasu, Prince Fushimi, Class I Grade II, 9 May 1903 Kotohito, Prince Kan'in, Class I Grade II, 27 January 1904 Baron Edmond de Gaiffier d'Hestroy, Belgium, Class I Prince Katsura Tarō, Prime Minister of Japan, Class I Grade II, 21 December 1907 (Class I Grade III: 18 December 1899) Georg von der Marwitz, Germany, Class I Grade II Erich von Gündell, Germany, Class I Grade II Duke Itō Hirobumi, Prime Minister of Japan, Class I Grade III, 5 December 1898 Herbert von Bismarck, Prince of Bismarck, Class I Grade III Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Minister of War of Russia, Class I Grade III, 1911 Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico, Class I, 1910 Alfred Meyer-Waldeck, Class I Grade II
Class II Dejan Subotić, Russia, Class II Grade I, 1896 Konstantin Glinka, Russia, Class II Grade III, 1898 Sir Halliday Macartney, United Kingdom, Class II Grade I, 1902 Robert Bredon, United Kingdom, Deputy Inspector-general of Customs at Shanghai, Class II Grade III, 1902 Rudolf Stöger-Steiner von Steinstätten, Austria, Class II Grade II, 1911 Okura Kihachiro, Japan, Class II Grade II, 10 February 1912 Paul von Buri, Germany, Class II Grade III'MR. VON BURI.', The Straits Times, 25 February 1913, p. 10 http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19130225-1.2.74.aspx John Edward Foley, United Kingdom, Traffic Manager of the Imperial Chinese Railways, Class II Grade III, 1902 Rihachirō Banzai, Japan, Class II, 2 July 1908Kanpou, Issue 7517, "Appointments and Resignations", July 17th, 1908. Adolf von Deines, Germany, Class II Grade I
Class III Rudolf, Prince of Liechtenstein, Class III Grade I Claude William Kinder CMG, United Kingdom, Chief Engineer Imperial Railways of North China, Class III Grade I, 1891Peter Crush : Imperial Railways of North China , Beijing 2013, Erich Raeder, Germany, Class III Grade II, 10 October 1898 John Penniell, United Kingdom, Chief Instructor at the Nanking Naval College, Class III Grade II, 1902 Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki, Russia, Class III Frank Arthur Morgan (1844–1907), United Kingdom, Commissioner of Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs, Class III, Grade 1Morgan's medals are in the British Museum collection https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?agent=Frank%20Arthur%20Morgan Retrieved 22 June 2022)
Unknown Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia Camillio Romano Avezzana, Italy Major General Charles George Gordon, United Kingdom Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier, Belgium Dr Leonora King, Canada Heinrich Johannes Bleeker, Germany Richard Theodore Greener, United States, 1902 Baron Julien Liebaert, Belgium, Knight Grand Cross Victor Vifquain, United States Viscount João Vieira Lins Cansanção, Prime Minister of Brazil Thomas Adamson Consul General, United States Pernot Claudius Ferdinand, France Katharine Carl, United States Dr Dugald Christie, Scottish medical missionary, associated with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, 1897.United Presbyterian Missionary Record, UPCoS, July. 1897, 257.
Gallery
See also Order of the Precious Brilliant Golden Grain: ROC award Order of Brilliant Jade: ROC award for foreign recipients
Notes and references
External links Classification of the Qing Dynasty Double Dragon Orders, Chinese Medal Blog