Highly doubt there is any silver in there, looks like the typical modern fantasy pieces made from that same dull alloy as flea-market fakes.
Agreed -- likely a fantasy piece, which happens to show a 5-clawed dragon: "...Historically, the dragon was the symbol of the Emperor of China. In the Zhou Dynasty, the 5-clawed dragon was assigned to the Son of Heaven, the 4-clawed dragon to the nobles (zhuhou, seigneur), and the 3-clawed dragon to the ministers (daifu). In the Qin Dynasty, the 5-clawed foot dragon was assigned to represent the Emperor while the 4-clawed and 3-clawed dragons were assigned to the commoners."
I found your medal listed on a Taiwanese web site similar to ebay. Apparently it is a silver medal that was presented as an award by some Chinese government minister. http://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?21304178885939
I don't believe the description from that site even for a second. You can see where the silver wash is flaked off on one side. Plus if it were something of an official nature, the weights would not vary so widely between two examples of the same piece. The wide weight variation is typical of base metal alloy fakes and fantasies.
That site does seem a little... questionable. I tried looking for the same medal on Japanese sites but could not find any reference to the medal, although there were numerous references to one of the inscriptions, 北洋大臣
It's based on a medal issued during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Beijing Chengxuan Auctions Company, a reputable auction house, auctioned this authentic piece for 17,250 yuan, about US $2,772, in May, 2013. However, this website shows an example which is probably similar to the OP's medal. According to the response from others, this medal is a modern copy which can be purchased in China for about 3 yuan or about US $0.48. Gary
Do you know what the purpose of this medal was? The Japanese source I found for 北洋大臣 said that it was the minister of a trade zone set up in 1870 in the "northern sea" area which comprised the modern cities of 宮口Yingkou, 滅海Weihai, and 煙台Yantai.
