The China Service Medal was created by an Act of Congress in August of 1940. These military medals were established to honor US Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel who served ashore in China or were attached to vessels that operated in support of operations in China either between July 1937 and September of 1939, or between September of 1945 and April of 1957. Regulations permitted the wearing of a Bronze Service Star on these military ribbons and medals if a service member had performed duty during both periods of eligibility. These Navy medals are now considered obsolete, and are no longer issued by the US Navy. However, they can still be worn by Navy personnel who earned them during that period.
These Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps ribbons and medals are worn in the position directly below the Navy Expeditionary Medal, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal and the Coast Guard’s Medal for Humane Action; and are worn directly above the National Defense Service Medal in the order of precedence for Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard military ribbons and medals. The China Service Medal is generally available as Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard decorations in the form of military medals, ribbons, and lapel pins. They can be worn as traditional slide-on medals and ribbons, and also as the newer thin mini-medals, and mounted ultra thin military ribbons that have become so very popular among up and coming military personnel who know how important it is to their career advancement to always maximize the neatness and smartness of their uniform appearance.