China-Denkmünze

The China Medal was instituted by Emperor Wilhelm II on May 10th, 1901. The medal was instituted to commemorate the persons who were involved in the Boxers-Uprise in China between 1899 and 1902. In the uprise by the so called Boxers, the countries Germany, Austria-Hungary, United States, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan and Russia decided to defend their interests in China. The countries formed a 150.000 military large force under the command of Field Marshall Graf von Waldersee to strike down the uprise. The force reached Peking on August 14th, 1900 and a peace treaty with China was signed on September 7th, 1901.
The German China-Denkmünze was awarded to German participants in the International Force.
To be awarded the decoration, one had to be in China between May 30th, 1900 and June 29th, 1901.
Two 'classes' were made, a bronze for combattants and a steel one for non-combattants.
The images on both medals was the same, an eagle pinning down a Chinese dragon. On the back of the medal the Emperors crowned monogram is shown with on the bronze medal the text "DEN SIEGREICHEN STREITERN 1900 CHINA 1901" and on the iron medal the text "VERDIENST UM DIE EXPEDITION NACH CHINA". On both medals and on both sides the images are surrounded by a laurel. The medal measures 32.6 mm wide and 35.1 mm high and was worn on a ribbon with yellow centred stripe and left and right a black-white-red and white stripes.
Although ment for German military, the decoration could also be awarded to foreign, non-chinese military who were added to German units or aided these.