Friendship Award (China) Explained

Friendship Award (China) should not be confused with Friendship Medal (China).

The People's Republic of China Friendship Award
Country:	People's Republic of China
Location:	Beijing
Presenter:	State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs State Council of the People's Republic of China
Reward:	Medal, certificate
Awarded For:	Foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country's economic and social progress

The Chinese Government's Friendship Award is the People's Republic of China's highest award for "foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country's economic and social progress".^[1] The award was first established in 1950s, 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.^[2] On September 15, 1955, the Chinese government decreed that each departing Soviet expert be issued a medal.^[3] 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.

After the reopening of China, a new Friendship Award was reintroduced in 1991.^[4] Since then, the winners have been selected by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) under the State Council.^[5] The award is conferred as part of the celebrations for the National Day of the People's Republic of China (October 1). 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 ("友谊奖", on the top), and in English (on the bottom). Besides the national friendship award, various local foreign expert awards are also being made at the provincial, regional, and municipal levels.

, 1,799 foreigners have received the award.^[6]

Laureates

List of Recipients!Year!Name!Profession!Field!Country!Institution!Citation

1994	Paul Bouchard	Civil Engineer	Construction (cement plant)	Canada	FLSmidth
1994	Horst Marschner	Professor		Germany	University of Hohenheim	^[7]
1995	Jane E. Josselyn	Professor	Translation	United States	Jilin University of Technology	^[8]
1998	William Lindesay OBE	Conservationist	Environment	United Kingdom	University of Liverpool	^[9]
1999	Albert Roman	Musician	Music	Switzerland
1999	Çetin Şengonca	Professor		Germany	Universität Bonn	^[10]
2001	Roger Mason	Professor	Geology	United Kingdom	China University of Geosciences (Wuhan)	^[11]
2003	Sebastian Zimmer	Expert		Germany
2004	Erwin Reisch	Economist	Economics	Germany	University of Hohenheim	^[12]
2004	Alan G. MacDiarmid	Professor	Chemistry	United States	University of Pennsylvania
2004	Hans-Peter Liebig	Researcher	Agriculture	Germany	University of Hohenheim	^[13]
2005	Michael A. Price				Project Management Institute
2005	Kishō Kurokawa	Architect	Design	Japan	University of Tokyo
2006	Sabriye Tenberken	Tibetologist	Sinology	Germany	Braille Without Borders
2006	Denis Simon	Professor	Technology	United States		^[14]
2006	Peter Abplanalp	Professor	Business	Switzerland	University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland	^[15]
2007	Majid Samii	Neurosurgeon	Medicine	Iran	University of Mainz
2007	Reinhart Kühne	Professor	Transportation	Germany		^[16]
2007	Robert Fontaine	Physician	Epidemiology	United States		^[17]
2008	Werner Alpers	Professor		Germany	Universität Hamburg	^[18]
2008	L. Reh	Professor		Switzerland	ETH Zurich	^[19]
2008	John L. Thornton	Professor	Global Affairs	United States	Brookings Institution	^[20]
2008	Scott Rozelle	Professor	Economics	United States	Stanford University	^[21]
2009	Geert Roelens	Businessman		Belgium	Bekaert
2009	Pedro Nueno	Professor		Spain	China Europe International Business School	^[22]
2009	Yevgeny Kaspersky	Executive	Information security	Russia	Kaspersky Lab	^[23]
2009	Kirby Jefferson	Executive	Computing	United States	Intel
2010	Rolf Müller	Professor		Germany	Virginia Tech	^[24]
2010	Airaldo Piva	Executive	Industry	Italy	Hengdian Group Europe	^[25]
2010	Christne O'Sullivan	Executive		Canada	SGMW	^[26]
2010	Dustin Wilson	Sport	Olympic Coach	Canada	Chinese Ski Association
2011	Jeffrey S. Lehman	Educator	Education	United States	Cornell University	^[27]
2011	Thomas W. Kensler	Professor		United States	University of Pittsburgh
2012	Hemmo Luijerink	Executive	Heavy Industry	The Netherlands	Fuwa Heavy Industry
2012	Shin-ichi Kurokawa	Professor	Accelerator science	Japan	KEK	^[28]
2012	Bikram S. Gill	Director	Agriculture	United States	Kansas State University
2012	Andreas DuBois	Expert	Renewable energy	Germany		^[29]
2012	Bertram Brenig	Professor	Molecular Biology	Germany	Universität Göttingen	^[30]
2012	Colin Blakemore	Professor	Neuroscience	United Kingdom	University of Oxford	^[31]
2013	Daniel Cohen-Or	Professor	Computer science	Israel	Tel Aviv University
2014	Branka Vucetic	Electrical engineer	Electrical engineering	Australia	University of Sydney
2014	Pericle Predielis	Expert	Agriculture
2014	George Mills	Expert	Technology		Drexel University
2014	Edmund Phelps	Economist		United States	Columbia University
2014	Ruedi Nützi	Director		Switzerland	University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland	^[32]
2015	Gerardo Dutto	Physicist		Canada	TRIUMF
2015	Ravi Singh	Researcher	Agriculture	India	International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center	^[33]
2016	David Andrew Phoenix	Biochemist	Biochemistry	United Kingdom	London South Bank University
2016	Wolfgang Kubin	Sinologist	Sinology	Germany	University of Bonn
2016	Katharina Kohse-Hoinghause	Material scientist	Material science	Germany
2016	Peter Grünberg	Physicist	Physics	Germany	Technische Universität Darmstadt	^[34]
2016	John M. Gray CBE	Banker	Finance	United Kingdom	HSBC
2016	John Hopcroft	Computer scientist	Computer Science	United States	Cornell University
2016	Anna Allabert	Broadcaster		Russia		^[35]
2016	Okyay Kaynak	Professor		Turkey	Boğaziçi University
2016	Fredmund Malik	Economist	Economics	Austria	University of St. Gallen	^[36]
2017	Pierre J. Verlinden	Chief Scientist	Photovoltaics	Australia	Trina Solar	^[37]
2017	Pedro Antonio Valdes-Sosa	Neuroscientist		Cuba	University of Electronic Science and Technology of China	^[38]
2017	Mike Wingfield	Professor	Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology	South Africa	University of Pretoria	^[39] ^[40]
2018	Enrico Gennaro	International Relations Expert	International Cooperation	Italy	Accademia di Agricoltura di Torino	^[41]
2019	Artem R. Oganov	Crystallographer	Crystallography	Russia	Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology
2019	James Heckman	Economist	Economics	United States	University of Chicago
2019	Nils Christian Stenseth	Biologist	Biology	Norway	University of Oslo	^[42]
2019	Bernard Bigot	Physicist	Physics	France	ITER
2021	Hiria Ottino	Anthropologist	Anthropology	Tahiti	PCFA
2022	Roger Falconer	Professor	Water Engineering	United Kingdom	Cardiff University	^[43]
2024	Yuri Gledenov	Professor	Nuclear Physics	Russia	Joint Institute for Nuclear Research

Notes and References

1. http://www.safea.gov.cn/english/content.php?id=12742855 Foreign Experts Given China Friendship Award - State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, September 28, 2008
2. http://www.safea.gov.cn/friendship/friendship_about/ Friendship Award, State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (official website, in Chinese)
3. Evolution of the Friendship Award, China Weekly, November 30, 2009 (in Chinese)
4. Web site: People's Daily Online -- Friendship Award awards friends. 2020-07-19. en.people.cn. 2021-04-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20210410142744/http://en.people.cn/200409/30/eng20040930_158811.html. dead.
5. Web site: People's Daily Online -- Foreign experts winning "Friendship Award" honored. 2020-07-19. en.people.cn. 2022-06-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20220627120615/http://en.people.cn/200409/29/eng20040929_158680.html. dead.
6. Web site: China confers Friendship Award on 100 foreign experts . The State Council, the People's Republic of China . 1 October 2021 . 21 September 2022 .
7. Web site: Hohenheim. University of. PM Detailansicht . University of Hohenheim. 2020-07-19 . en.
8. Web site: Jane E. Josselyn Obituary (1942 - 2021) The Oregonian . 2022-05-23 . Legacy.com.
9. Web site: An Englishman's 30-year odyssey along Great Wall - China . China Daily . 2020-07-19 .
10. [doi:10.1007/BF02768922|'Friendship Award' der Volksrepublik China an Professor Cetin Segonca]
11. Web site: "Feng Shui": Science or Superstition? . SOAS University of London. 2020-07-19. en.
12. http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/preise_foerderungen/bericht-64401.html? Chinas höchste Auszeichnung für ausländische Staatsbürger 'Friendship Award' an Forscher der Uni Hohenheim
13. Web site: Germany's first Double Degree with China. 2020-07-19. University of Hohenheim. en.
14. Web site: Denis Simon . 2024-07-28 . ICAS . en-US.
15. Web site: Visiting Scholar from Switzerland Presents "Doing Business In China"; Wells Fargo Business Executive Speaker Series Presents Dr. Peter Abplanalp. 2020-07-19. SUU. en.
16. http://www.dlr.de/vs/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1870/2657_read-10769//usetemplate-print/ Verleihung des China National Friendship Award an Prof. Reinhart Kühne
17. http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6281222.html American epidemiologist wins China's Friendship Award
18. http://www.zmaw.de/index.php?id=371tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=370&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=84&cHash=f245fc1958 Hamburger Meeresforscher erhält Freundschaftspreis der VR China
19. http://www.alumni.ethz.ch/association/topic_groups/processes/Friendship-Award-Reh Verleihung des China National Friendship Award 2008 an Prof. Dr. L. Reh
20. Web site: Professor John L. Thornton Honored Friendship Award . Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management. 2020-07-19.
21. Web site: Scott Rozelle, PhD. 2022-09-19.
22. Web site: Nueno, Pedro. 2020-07-19. CEIBS. en.
23. http://www.kaspersky.com/news?id=207575918 Eugene Kaspersky receives National Friendship Award of China
24. 28 October 2010 . Virginia Tech's Rolf Mueller receives friendship award from China . 2020-09-18 . Virginia Tech . 10919/63738. Nystrom . Lynn A..
25. http://www.comunicati-stampa.net/com/cs-106015/ Airaldo Piva, è l'italiano premiato National Friendship Award of China
26. Web site: Meng. Lingjun. The open arms of Liuzhou. 2020-07-19. China Daily.
27. Web site: Jeff Lehman '77, former CU president, receives high honor from China. 2020-07-19. Cornell Chronicle. en.
28. Web site: Khan. Sameen Ahmed. China awards Shin-ichi Kurokawa the 2012 Friendship Award LC NewsLine. 2020-07-19. Linear Collider Collaboration. en-US.
29. http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-08/23/content_16914995.htm Storm of Praise for Wind Expert
30. Web site: Bertram Brenig erhält chinesischen "Friendship Award". 2020-07-19. leopoldina.org. de.
31. Web site: Awards for Professor Colin Blakemore . Magdalen College Oxford. 2020-07-19.
32. Web site: Der Friendship Award aus China öffnet uns weitere Türen. 2020-07-19. Oltner Tagblatt. 3 October 2014 . de-ch.
33. News: December 1, 2015. Agriculture researcher Singh receives national award. en. Crop Protection News Reports.
34. Web site: Grünberg, Peter, 1939-. 2021-01-19. history.aip.org.
35. Web site: Premier Li meets with Friendship Award recipients. 2020-07-19. english.www.gov.cn.
36. Web site: 2016. People's Republic of China Friendship Award 2016. Malik Management.
37. Web site: 天合光能首席科学家Pierre Verlinden获中国政府【友谊奖】 . 2022-10-23 . sohu.com.
38. Web site: 魏捷仪. 詹妮. 古巴著名科学家、电子科大教授裴德乐：成都总是充满惊喜. Beijing Daily. 2023-11-01.
39. Web site: Prof Mike Wingfield receives Chinese Government Friendship Award . University of Pretoria . 2022-12-26 . en.
40. Web site: Wingfield Mike . The AAS . 2022-12-26 . 2022-12-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221226130625/https://www.aasciences.africa/fellow/wingfield-mike . dead .
41. «2018 Chinese Government Friendship Award Winners - Consultation Symposium Handbook». State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs. September, 2018.
42. Web site: China's top scientific award for foreign scientists given to 10 . 2020-01-11. 江巍. China Daily.
43. Web site: Professor Roger Falconer honored with the Chinese Government Friendship Award and Medal . 13 July 2023 . European Academy of Sciences . 2024-04-07 . en.