Circular silvered medal with eyelet for ribbon suspension; the face with a crowned German eagle sweeping from left to right, a prostrate dragon in its claws, all within a laurel wreath border; the reverse with the crowned cipher of Emperor Wilhelm II with flying pendelia, circumscribed ‘VERDIENST UM DIE EXPEDITION NACH CHINA’ (Merit to the Expedition to China), a five-pointed star at the base, all within a laurel wreath border; on replaced correct ribbon.
The Medal was instituted on 10 May 1901 in bronze for combatants and those who had tended the sick and wounded in the war zone and in steel for non-combatants and support personnel during the ‘Boxer’ uprising and siege of the Foreign Legations in Peking (Beijing) and their subsequent relief.
The proposal of Emperor Wilhelm II for a common commemorative medal for the eight-nation alliance was rejected and each country (except Austria-Hungary) issued its own medal. The medal was designed by Professor Walter Schott of Berlin and manufactured by Mayer and Wilhelm of Stuttgart who delivered 5,000 examples in steel for non-combatants.
Subsequently, private versions in silver, in silvered brass and in white metal alloy (Weißmetall) were made privately.
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