Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal

Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal
Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal (obverse)
Awarded by France
Type	Medal
Awarded for	Participation in the Tonkin campaign and Sino-French War, 1883–1885
Statistics
Established	6 September 1885
Last awarded	1 October 1895
Total awarded	97,300
Ribbon of the Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal

The Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal (French: Médaille commémorative de l'expédition du Tonkin) was awarded to all the French soldiers and sailors who took part in the battles of the Tonkin campaign and the Sino-French War between 1883 and 1885. The medal, decreed by a law of 6 September 1885, was minted at the Monnaie de Paris and distributed shortly before the Bastille Day parade on 14 July 1886 to around 65,000 soldiers and sailors. The medal was later awarded to participants in a number of earlier and later campaigns in Indochina, bringing the total number of recipients to 97,300.

The decision to issue a commemorative medal was enshrined in a law of 6 September 1885, whose text read as follows:

Article 1. There is hereby established a commemorative medal for the Tonkin expedition and the military operations directed against China and Annam in 1883, 1884 and 1885.

Article 2. The medal shall be of silver, 30 millimetres in diameter. On one side it shall bear the effigy of the Republic, with the words République française, and on the other the legend Tonkin, Chine, Annam and in an inscription the names of the most glorious feats of arms. The medallion shall be enclosed within a laurel wreath.

Article 3. The persons awarded this medal shall wear it on the left side of the chest, attached to a ribbon half green and half yellow.

Article 4. The medal shall be bestowed by the President of the Republic on all the soldiers and sailors who took part in the Tonkin expedition and the military operations directed against China and Annam in 1883, 1884 and 1885, on the recommendation of the ministry responsible for their respective corps or service.

As stipulated in the law of 6 September 1885, the obverse of the medal features an effigy of the Republic and the words République française, enclosed within a laurel wreath. In accordance with convention, the Republic is represented as a helmeted young woman with the word patrie (motherland) inscribed on the visor of her helmet.

On the reverse of the medal are a list of some of the more notable engagements of the Tonkin campaign and the Sino-French War. Two medal issues were made, one for the army and one for the navy and the troupes de marine. The navy issue medal includes the following names: Cau-Giaï, Sontay, Bac-Ninh, Fou-Tchéou, Formose, Tuyen-Quan, Pescadores. The army issue medal omits the name Cau-Giaï, as this engagement, a serious French defeat on 19 May 1883 in which Henri Rivière, the French commandant supérieur in Tonkin, was killed, was entirely a navy affair.