Hero's Medal
| Order of Heroic Exemplar | |||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 英雄模范勋章 | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Yīngxióng mófàn xūnzhāng |
| IPA | [íŋɕi̯ʊ̌ŋ mu̯ǒfân ɕýnʈʂáŋ] |
The Order of Heroic Exemplar (Chinese: 英雄模范勋章) is the highest military decoration awarded by the Government of the People's Republic of China, and was named Heroic Exemplar Medal (Chinese: 英雄模范奖章) before 2011. The person who gained the award is called Heroic Exemplar (Chinese: 英模).
The Heroic Exemplar Medal, along with the Meritorious Service Medal, was first created in April 1951 by the Chinese People's Volunteer Army political director Du Ping in an effort to promote the unity of the Chinese armed forces during the Korean War. The medal was conceived so that the common soldiers would follow the examples set by few selected role models. When the medal was first created, it was composed of three categories — second, first and special class. The special class was later eliminated when the Chinese People's Liberation Army's (PLA) medal system formalized in 1988. In 2011, the name of the award changed into Order of Heroic Exemplar.
According to the initial award criteria published in 1951, the medal was awarded to anyone "who have owned two medals of third or second class or one of the first grade [Meritorious Service] award, who are most outstanding at an army or army corps level, and whose remarkable contribution are also recognized by friendly units."
A candidate for the medal would normally be nominated by the deputy political officer of a company, while all squads within the company were required to meet once a month to list each soldier's accomplishments for the selection process. Once nominated, the PLA General Political Department or the candidate's military region political department would be responsible for approving the nomination.
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