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Circular silver medal on laterally-pierced barrel-shaped (belière à l’olive) suspension; the face with a helmeted female head representative of the French Republic, inscribed ‘REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE’, signed ‘DANIEL DUPUIS’ (for the great French medallist and sculptor Jean-Baptiste Daniel-Dupuis, 1849-1899), all within a circular laurel wreath; the reverse inscribed with the battles ‘CAU-GIAÏ, SONTAY, BAC-NINH, FOU-TCHEOU, FORMOSE, TUYEN-QUAN, PESCADORES’ encircled by the inscription ‘TONKIN CHINE ANNAM 1883-1885’ within a laurel wreath, with cornucopia silver assay mark; on replaced correct ribbon. The medal was created on 6 September 1885 for the sailors who took part in the operations in Tonkin (now Vietnam), China and Annam during the years 1883 to 1885 that terminated with the Treaty of Tien-Tsing with China. The attribution was extended by the law of 27 July 1887 to sailors who subsequently participated in operations in Tonkin, Annam, Cambodia, Siam (Thailand) and the Upper Mekong (Laos). The Marine version of the medal, of which this example is one, may be distinguished from the Land version by the presence of CAU-GIAÏ at the head of the list of battles. The medal is increasingly hard to find.
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