Qualification badge

National Defense Service Medal

Qualification Badges (Chinese: 级别资历章) are a series of decorations of People's Liberation Army Type 07, which are small ribbons mounted on small metal bars indicating military rank or length of service. Only PLA officers can wear qualification badges, PLA soldiers wear National Defense Service Medal instead.^[1]

Use

Military Rank

Each row has three ribbons, the basic rank can be referred from the number of rows. The rule is:

• 7 rows: Level of Vice Chairman of CMC (Chinese: 军委副主席) and CMC members (Chinese: 军委委员)
• 6 rows: Level of Major Military Region (Chinese: 大军区级)
• 5 rows: Level of Corps (Chinese: 军级)
• 4 rows: Level of Division (Chinese: 师级)
• 3 rows: Level of Regiment (Chinese: 团级)
• 2 rows: Level of Battalion (Chinese: 营级)
• 1 row: Level of Company (Chinese: 连级) and Platoon (Chinese: 排级)

The ribbon at the middle of top row is called Rank Ribbon (Chinese: 级别略章), which has star pentagon on it. One star represent for deputy posts (except level of vice chairman of CMC and CMC members and platoon), and two stars for principal posts. The color of stars also differs from ranks, over and include level of corps it is yellow and below it is silver.

Length of Service

All ribbons except rank ribbon are represent for the length of service.

Ribbon List^[2]

Ribbon Class	Ribbon Name	Description	Design
Rank Ribbon	Level of Vice Chairman of CMC and CMC members	Lemon yellow background with a yellow star surrounded by olive branches in the middle.
	Level of Major Military Region	Saffron yellow background with yellow stars in the middle, one for deputy posts and two for principal posts.
	Level of Corps	Khaki background with yellow stars in the middle, one for deputy posts and two for principal posts.
	Level of Division	Red background with silver stars in the middle, one for deputy posts and two for principal posts.
	Level of Regiment	Dark purple background with silver stars in the middle, one for deputy posts and two for principal posts.
	Level of Battalion	Dark blue background with silver stars in the middle, one for deputy posts and two for principal posts.
	Level of Company	Light blue background with silver stars in the middle, one for deputy posts and two for principal posts.
	Level of Platoon	Grass green background with a silver star in the middle.
Service Length Ribbon	One Year Ribbon	Green background with double yellow single red stripe.
	Two Years Ribbon	Dark blue background with double white stripes.
	Three Years Ribbon	Yellow background with triple red stripes.
	Four Years Ribbon	Grey blue background with tetrad yellow strips.
	Five Years Ribbon	Penta Red, white, dark blue, yellow, dark green strips.
	Ten Years Ribbon	Decade red, light blue, yellow, light green, yellow, dark blue, yellow, dark purple, yellow, red strips.
Padding Ribbon	Supplementary ribbon when service length ribbon can't full fill the budge, should be avoid to use.	Light grey

See also

• Service Ribbon
• Order
• List of military decorations
• List of prizes, medals, and awards
• Ranks of the People's Liberation Army

References

1. "级别资历章". 大学生征兵网.
2. 中国军网. "图解：3分钟教你看懂军人资历章". 人民网.