People's Republic of China. Friendship award. 1958. Gold gilt silver. Enameled. Rare. Introduced during the 1950s, stopped during the 1960s and reintroduced in the 1990s, it is the highest award issued to foreign experts who made significant contributions to China's development. In gold gilt silver, this medal was issued to a German Hans Eckhardt with a signed certificate of appreciation by then Premier Zhou Enlai. The design is unique and interesting bearing the simple yet striking official insignia associated with the Communist party of China (ie Tiananmen Square and 5 pointed red star) without the other auxiliary designs of preceding and later issues. More noteworthy was it's association and issue personally by Premier Zhou Enlai, one of the PRC founding fathers second only to Chairman Mao and one of China's most beloved leaders of the time. It was through his diplomacy, contributions and efforts that China weathered the chaos of the cultural revolution and it was him who saved Deng Xiaoping to continue his legacy of China's economic development leading to its achievements today.
These early pieces (within 10 years of the founding of the PRC) must be rare; diplomatic pieces even more so.... I wonder what the "significant contributions to China's development" for which Hans Eckhardt was responsible? Hopefully he hadn't contributed to the Great Leap (大躍進) which was taking place when this medal was issued. And the medal being issued by Zhou is quite key to its novelty: He was one of a very few of the early leadership that people in China even cared for when he died. There was true grief at his funeral: At least he had not been insane. When Mao died, the grief was mainly feigned, except among the young, who knew nothing.
Absolutely! Of all the founding leaders, I have only the highest respect for him. He was instrumental in protecting and setting the foundations for china's modernization but could not do so during his lifetime due to the political dangers of the time spearheaded by Mao and his wife Jiang Qing and the gang of four. He was instrumental in opening diplomatic ties with the US back then with Kissinger And Nixon. Notwithstanding that if not for ZZhou's protection and effort, Deng Xiaoping would not be able to set Zhou's development policies in motion after his death. Such was his personality and admiration of the people that his death was a massive affair of genuine outpouring of grief in Tiananmen that rivalled if not surpassed Mao's who died within the same year..
