Order of the Illustrious Dragon

Military order of Manchukuo

Order of the Illustrious Dragon
Breast star of the Order.
Awarded by Manchukuo
Type	Order of chivalry
Established	March 1, 1934
Country	Manchukuo
Status	Obsolete
Founder	Puyi
Classes	Grand Cordon
Statistics
First induction	1934
Last induction	1940
Total inductees	33
Precedence
Next (higher)	Grand Order of the Orchid Blossom
Next (lower)	Order of the Auspicious Clouds
Equivalent	Order of the Paulownia Flowers
Ribbon bar

The Order of the Illustrious Dragon (Chinese: 龍光章 Lóngguāng zhāng) was an award of the Empire of Manchuria. It was established by Imperial Decree No. 1 on March 1, 1934 and published by law of April 19, 1934. The order consisted of only one class: Grand Cordon.^[1] The order was the equivalent of the Japanese Order of the Paulownia Flowers.^[2]

Design

The gold medal is star-shaped and consists of eight bundles of five smooth golden rays each. There is a green, enamelled short beam between each individual beam. The medallion is surrounded by 28 red jewels and shows a stylized Chinese dragon in the center, which is accompanied by a piece of a golden cloud. The dragon itself represented the Emperor, Puyi. The medal of the order and the associated order star match in their appearance. The gem has an openwork, green enamel hanger that shows a stylized cloud group consisting of a central cloud vortex and two concentric pentagons. The corresponding rosette is white and shows a blue ring in the middle. On the reverse side of the badge there are four characters - "勲功位章" ("Order of Merit Badge").^[2]

The sign through a rectangular bracket on the upper beam is attached to an intermediate link of light green enamel, which is an openwork slotted pentagon, into which a similar smaller pentagon and a spiral are inscribed, symbolizing clouds. At the upper end of the intermediate link there is a transverse eyelet with a ring for attaching to the order's ribbon.^{[citation needed]}

The award was worn on a blue sash with white stripes, representing the sun and a white sun, from the right shoulder and a breast star.^[2]

Recipients

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2020)

It was awarded 33 times and was discontinued in 1945 after the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.

References

^ "Manchukuo Empire: The Grand Cordon of the Illustrious Dragon". Retrieved 2 August 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Catherine Lapinsh (5 May 2020). "GRAND, ILLUSTRIOUS AND AUSPICIOUS – ORDERS OF MANCHUKUO". Tallinn Museum.

Bibliography

Ionina, N. Pu Yi and Manchukuo awards, 100 great awards. Veche, 2006. ISBN 5-7838-1171-8, pp. 155-157.
Kua, Paul L. T. Manchukuo's Award System and Some of its Lesser Known Awards, The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America, 1998. Vol. 49, no. 1. pp. 17-26.
Neubecker, Ottfried. On the orders of Manchukuo, Uniforms Market. Issue 8, p. 5
Peterson, James W. Orders and Medals of Japan and Associated States, Orders and Medals Society of America, 2000, 3. Edition, ISBN 978-1890974091, p. 140.
Rozanov, O. N. Japan: History in awards. Russian political encyclopedia (ROSSPEN), 2001. ISBN 5-8243-0235-9, pp. 103-110.
Rozanov, O. N. Reward systems in the politics and ideology of the countries of North-East Asia, Monuments of historical thought, 2008. ISBN 978-5-88451-238-2, pp. 131-137.
Usov, V. N. The last emperor of China: Pu Yi (1906-1967), Olma-Press, 2003. ISBN 5-224-04249-6, pp. 177-178.