Order of Brilliant Jade

The Order of Brilliant Jade is a civilian order of the Republic of China that can be worn only by the head of a nation. According to regulations, the order can only be presented by the president of the country or an emissary expressly dispatched to friendly nations for the conferment. The order was instituted on 22 December 1933. It has a star-patterned face of inlaid jade bordered with gold and pearls. In the centre there is white sun surrounded by blue sky, the national emblem. Previously, the Order of the Brilliant Jade was divided into two, namely Grand Order of Brilliant Jade (current) and Order of Brilliant Jade with nine ranks.

Controversy and suggestions to rename
The Chinese official name of the order 采玉大勳章 (cǎi yù dà xūnzhāng) was claimed to be named after President Chiang Kai-shek's mother, Wáng Cǎiyù, by Democratic Progressive Party members of Legislative Yuan, and there are suggestions from the pan-green coalition to rename the order to suit Taiwanese locality as "Order of Taiwan", but this was not passed at the Legislative Yuan in April 2007, facing opposition from the Kuomintang. In April 2022, the Transitional Justice Commission reported to the Legislative Yuan that there is no documentary evidence proving the Order of Brilliant Jade related to Wáng Cǎiyù.

Notable recipients

 * Pakubuwono X (1933)
 * Hans von Seeckt (1936)
 * William Henry Donald (1936)
 * Edvard Beneš (1936)
 * Leopold III of Belgium (1937)
 * Minnie Vautrin (1938)
 * Frederick Maze (1938)
 * Richard Freeman Brady (1938)
 * Donald Van Slyke (1939)
 * Joseph Beech (1940)
 * Charles K. Edmunds (1941)
 * Chiang Kai-shek (1943)
 * Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1958)
 * Bhumibol Adulyadej (1963)
 * Faisal of Saudi Arabia (1971)
 * Blaise Compaoré (1994)
 * Ricardo Maduro (2002)
 * Antonio Saca (2004)
 * Bingu wa Mutharika (2005)
 * Thomas Remengesau Jr. (2007)
 * Álvaro Colom (2008)
 * Anote Tong (2009)
 * Fernando Lugo (2011)
 * Juan Orlando Hernández (2016)
 * Jovenel Moïse (2018)
 * Mario Abdo Benítez (2018)
 * Baron Waqa (2019)
 * Alejandro Giammattei (2023)