The modern Hong Kong honours system was created by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government after the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. Before this system's creation, Hong Kong followed the British honours system with the Order of the British Empire.

Types of awards

General awards

The Grand Bauhinia Medal (大紫荊勳章) is the highest award in this system. The awardee is allowed to use the postnominal letters GBM.

The Order of the Bauhinia Star has three classes (postnominal in parenthesis): the Gold Bauhinia Star (GBS; 金紫荊星章), the Silver Bauhinia Star (SBS, 銀紫荊星章), and the Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS, 銅紫荊星章).

The GBS is awarded to persons who have given very distinguished services to the community or who have rendered public or voluntary services of a very high degree of merit.

The Medal of Honour (postnominal MH; 榮譽勳章) is the basic award in the system.

Bravery awards

The Order of the Medal for Bravery is awarded for display of bravery in an incident. The Medal for Bravery (Gold) (金英勇勳章; postnominal MBG) is the highest in this order. There is also Medal for Bravery (Silver) (銀英勇勳章; MBS) and Medal for Bravery (Bronze) (銅英勇勳章; MBB).

Disciplined Services and ICAC Awards

The Disciplined Services and ICAC Awards are awarded to officers of the 'disciplined formations' (similar to uniformed services elsewhere) and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). The awardees are not allowed postnominals.

Order of precedence

The order of precedence is listed as follows in postnominals: GBM, GBS, MBG, SBS, MBS, BBS, MBB, MH.

Nomination and awarding

The nomination is usually made by SAR Government departments, and evaluated by the Honours Committee. The annual Honours List is published in the Gazette of the SAR Government on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (1 July).

External links

• Protocol Division (http://www.info.gov.hk/protocol/index2.htm) of the Hong Kong SAR
• Recipients of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Honours and Awards (http://www.info.gov.hk/cml/eng/miscell/index2.htm)
• order of precedence in Hong Kong (http://www.info.gov.hk/protocol/big5/precedence/index.htm)