Order of Extreme Bravery (a.k.a. Order of Golden Lion)/忠勇勳章/赤胆勳章 (a.k.a. 金狮勋章)

It seems that nothing is known for certain about this order.
Even its official name.

In the center of the medallion two hieroglyphs

赤胆 - lit. Red Belly/Guts (idiom) [赤 - sincere and loyal 胆 - bold and courageous]
赤胆忠心 /chìdǎnzhōngxīn/ lit. red-bellied devotion (idiom); whole-hearted loyalty; to serve sb with body and soul; ardent loyalty; utter devotion.

Badges were made in gilded bronze.
Original ribbon approximately 35 mm wide and has colors of the China Republic flag: red, yellow, blue, white, and black - all equal.

Size 74.29 x 63.65 mm.

 

In addition to the badge the breast star is also known.

Bronze, gilt, enamel.

Another specimen from the Harry Mohler Collection, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

Bronze, gilt, enamel.
Size 88 mm.

Reverse.

 

Bronze, gilt.
Size 83 mm.

Reverse.

 

Who and when created this order?

It is traditionally believed that this military order was created by Zhang Zuolin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Zuolin somewhere around 1925.

Another "traditionally" mentioned possible creator of this order is Wu Peifu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Peifu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Peifu

Lately even Duan Qirui began to be mentioned as actual creator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duan_Qirui

According to one Chinese source the name of this order

金狮勋章 - Golden Lion Order.

In China it is sometimes called

忠勇勳章/赤胆勳章 - Order of Loyalty and Courage.

Also known as Order for Bravery or Order of Extreme Bravery.

The actual number of classes is not known.
All known breast badges have approximately the same width 62.5-64 mm (these are often described as 3rd class badges).

Typical auction descriptions.

 

Weight without ribbon around 40 g.

Later this badge (in fact this is the very same badge that opened this thread) got replacement ribbon.

Central medallion with red-bellied dragon, cannon and rifle.

Interestingly its color scheme of rays is in reverse order.

 

Another badge.
Size 76 x 63.6 mm.

 

Badge with rarely survived rivet on reverse and reverse color scheme of rays.

 

Possible way to fix the problem of the lost rivet.

 

 

Lost medallion.

 

Once again rivet cap is missing.

 

Another original badge.

 

Fakes.

Unnumbered fake rarity.

Numbered variant of fake.

Fake with extremely low number + color variation of the lion.