Friendship Award (China)

The Chinese Government's Friendship Award is an award for "foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country's economic and social progress" in support of the Chinese Communist Party granted by the People's Republic of China.
Winners of the award are selected by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs under the State Council, implementing the policies of the Communist Party.
The award is conferred as part of the celebrations for the National Day of the People's Republic of China. The award consist of a medal and an award certificate. The medal is decorated with a picture of the Great Wall on the obverse along with the inscription "Friendship Award" in Chinese, and in English.
, 1,799 foreigners have received the award. By 2024, the number was nearly 2,000.

Notable Laureates

The award traces its roots to the creation of the Medal of Sino-Soviet Friendship in 1951, when it was awarded to experts from the former Soviet Union and East European countries by the then premier Zhou Enlai and the foreign minister Chen Yi. On September 15, 1955, the Chinese government decreed that each departing Soviet expert be issued a medal. This medal featured the flags of China and the Soviet Union along with the inscription "Long live the Sino-Soviet Friendship". The friendship award was abolished with the Sino-Soviet split in the early 1960s. During the period that followed, in particular the Cultural Revolution, foreigners in China were often regarded as "spies" and very few remained in the country. The new Friendship Award was introduced by the Communist Party in 1991 following China's reopening.