Russian Ambassador to China Andrei Denisov presents a medal on Wednesday to a Chinese veteran who worked in the former Soviet Union, at a ceremony in Beijing marking the 70th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War (1941-45). FENG YONGBIN / CHINA DAILY

Most of the recipients are descendants of the first generation of top officials of the People's Republic of China. Among them was Mao Zedong's daughter Li Min.

From 1941 to 1945, many of them stayed at an international school in Moscow named Ivanovo International Orphanage, where the children of Josip Broz Tito and other Communist leaders received part of their education.