The group includes inmates of an international orphanage in Ivanovo, near Moscow, and militia fighters of the Soviet Union's 88th Division, which was engaged on the Far Eastern theatre.
Lo Xibei, one of the medal winners, was intelligence agent in the Japanese occupation forces rear in China's northeast, July 1945.
Some of the winners never fought in the ranks but were doing all they could for the rear war effort. Thus, Ivanovo inmates worked on lumbering sites and in munitions factories, and were regular blood donors.
Two of the 27 were invited to visit Moscow, May 8-9, for V-E anniversary celebrations.
Many more veterans are to receive similar medals. They live in outlying parts of China and so could not attend the ambassadorial gala. They will get their awards on later occasions.
Today's gala also saw a public introduction of a photograph album, "Wartime Recollections". The press chancellery of China's State Council has prepared the book together with the Russian Embassy and RIA Novosti.
