先进个人奖, what is this?

Question

I'm not really sure this is the correct website to ask for this, I'm sorry if it is not. Anyway, I'm trying to understand what this honour/award is (in English I often see it translated as "outstanding individual" or "advanced individual" award) and I'm trying to figure out mainly two things:

1. In which cases are you awarded with this honour/award?
2. Who can award it?

I'm an Italian guy and the closest I found for my country is this (see knight grade), is it really similar to it? According to Wikipedia the latter is awarded to

reward merits acquired toward the Nation in the field of literature, arts, economy and the commitment in public offices and activities carried out for social, philanthropic and humanitarian purposes, as well as for prolonged and distinguished services in civil and milirary career

Thanks!

Answer 1

China's Advanced Individual Award is for a person who exceeds expectations working in education, government, military, environmental operations or any other social organization. Usually this person must be the highest contributor of work or innovation within their peers.

As Shaw already said, it can be issued by whatever authority the individual is working in.

Why this exists: At the beginning of the the People's Republic of China, all private enterprise was being to being taken over by the communist party. China actually prospered relatively well at the beginning but there was a high demand to redistribute food to the workers in the city and it became apparent that China's agricultural system was severely outdated and lacked modern farming equipment. The issue grew when Mao Zedong started the Great Leap Forward (大跃进) which emphasized stamping out "slack labor" all while the government was still punishing class enemies. So there was a dilemma to award workers for their achievements without making them class enemies. Deng Xiaoping, advocated for some type of award for high achieving workers, which eventually he got after he became Mao's successor. The Advanced Individual Award (though its name has changed depending on the context) was an extension of Xiaoping's effort to award high achieving workers.

(Note that I am brushing over a lot of dense history here so forgive some of the over simplifications)