Reflections | After Fan Bingbing’s Malaysia award, a history of Chinese official honours

Reflections | After Fan Bingbing’s Malaysia award, a history of Chinese official honours

For her contributions to Malacca’s tourism sector, Chinese celebrity Fan Bingbing was conferred the Darjah Pangkuan Seri Melaka – or the Companion Class II of the Exalted Order of Malacca – by the governor of the non-royal Malaysian state last month. That order carries the title “Datuk”. She can be referred to as Datuk Fan Bingbing, but only when she is in Malaysia. Malaysia has an intricate system of federal and state honours. While honorary, t…