The Grand Bauhinia Medal (Chinese: 大紫荊勳章) the highest award under the Hong Kong honours and awards system, is to recognise the selected person's lifelong and highly significant contribution to the well-being of Hong Kong. The awardee is entitled to the postnominal letters GBM and the style "The Honorable". (Bauhinia, Bauhinia blakeana, is the floral emblem of Hong Kong.) It is created in 1997 to replace the British honours system after the transfer of sovereignty to People's Republic of China and the establishment of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Famous quotes containing the word grand:
“A garden has this advantage, that it makes it indifferent where you live. A well-laid garden makes the face of the country of no account; let that be low or high, grand or mean, you have made a beautiful abode worthy of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)