During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, there was a medal that appeared frequently, and it was also the most famous and widely influential medal in the Republic of China period, that is, the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun.
The Qingtian White Sun Medal was awarded to meritorious military personnel who defended the country and resisted foreign insults, and from 1930 onwards, the first batch of candidates were meritorious men who had outstanding performance in the Middle East Road Incident, a total of 6 people were awarded, the first was the young marshal Zhang Xueliang, and the other 5 were: Wang Shuchang, Hu Yukun, Yu Xuezhong, Zou Zuohua, Shen Honglie, all of whom were famous generals in the Northeast Army, and later they were all awarded the rank of second-class general for their military merits.
The Middle East Road Incident occurred in 1929, and a total of 200,000 people were dispatched between China and the Soviet Union, of course, the Chinese side was mainly Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army, which was the largest war in the history of China and the Soviet Union. The war ended with the defeat of the Northeast Army, and the famous Black Blind Island was lost, but the patriotism of the Northeast Army in this war was commendable, so the above 6 people also became the first heroes to be awarded the Qingtian White Sun Medal.
The second batch of grantees was awarded by only one person, namely Lao Jiang, who was awarded in 1931 because he put an end to the warlord scuffle and made an indelible contribution, which can be said to meet the criteria of "defending the country and resisting foreign insults". However, also in 1931, there was also an outbreak of Chinese eternal pain - the September 18 Incident, the performance of old Jiang after the fact, really ashamed of this Blue Sky And White Sun Medal!
Then came the period of conflict between Chinese and the Japanese, such as the January 28 Incident, the Great Wall War of Resistance, etc., and there were also a large number of medal recipients; in 1937, the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance, which was the period when this medal symbolizing "defending the family and defending the country and resisting foreign insults" should be awarded. According to statistics, before withdrawing from the mainland, a total of 192 people were awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun, of which 166 were awarded in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Because of the particularity of military merits, the people who can be awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun are basically officers, and the lowest must be low-level officers, but there are still two people who have received this supreme medal of "defending the family and defending the country and resisting foreign insults" as soldiers, these two soldiers are named An Decheng and Zhang Lunlin.
It was in august 1938 in the Battle of Wuhan, the 58th Division of the 23rd Army tank defense artillery company stationed at the Wusha Gate, because the Japanese fire was too fierce, the artillery company suffered heavy losses, only a squad of class An Decheng and gunner Zhang Lunlin refused to get off the line of fire, even if they were seriously injured, they still operated the cannon to bombard the Japanese warships. After the war, in recognition of their heroic deeds, the government made an exception and awarded them the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun, becoming the only two soldiers in the history of the medal.
But unfortunately, at the same time, it is also glorious, these two heroes were martyred in the Battle of Shanggao in 1941 and the Battle of Hengyang in 1944.
In addition, four Americans were awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and The White Sun, and of course, these four people were all well-known, namely Stilwell, Chennault, Weidmeier and Marshall.
Both Stilwell and Wei Demai served as chiefs of staff of the Chinese Theater and commander of the US forces in the China-Burma-India Theater, and made great contributions to the cause of China's War of Resistance, Chennault was even more famous captain of the American Flying Tigers aiding China, whose merits are known to everyone, as for General Marshall, he contributed a lot in the Peace Talks between the Kuomintang and the Republic after World War II, although in the end he failed to prevent the great decisive battle between the Kuomintang and the Communists, but in order to please the Americans, the old Chiang also awarded the highly respected Marshall the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun.
In the history of the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun, there is also a single woman, namely Song Meiling. It seems that Song Meiling and the Qingtian White Sun Medal cannot fight with the eight rods, and the government's move is suspected of "flattery", but in fact, Song Meiling's merits in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression cannot be ignored.
First of all, Song Meiling was the actual person in charge of the Air Force during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and even the American Flying Tigers were also recruited by her; in addition, Song Meiling's lecture tour in the United States greatly publicized the heroic deeds of the Chinese military and civilians in the Iron-Blooded War of Resistance and won countless foreign aid for China's cause of the War of Resistance. Therefore, Song Meiling was also awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun.
Finally, let's talk about old Chiang's medal. The Qingtian White Sun Medal is numbered in chronological order of award, such as Zhang Xueliang is the first, Wang Shu is often the second, and so on, then to Lao Jiang here, there is a problem, if according to the chronological order, Lao Jiang should be the seventh, but as the head of a country, how can he rank seventh? In the end, the official had a way to change the old Jiang's medal to "Special One", which was even "Number One" than Zhang Xueliang's Number One.
Because this medal is to commend lao Jiang for his merits in pacifying the whole country, it is of great significance, and lao Jiang attaches great importance to it, and he must wear it every time he attends an important occasion.
However, for unknown reasons, the medal was later spilled out and appeared at auction in Hong Kong in August 2012. But because of the problem of authenticity, this auction was auctioned. A year later, on 6 July 2013, the "Special One" medal was auctioned again in Hong Kong, starting at HK$5 million and finally selling for HK$7.2 million.