Hey KOT, if this was a one off, I wouldn't be too concerned. I'm skeptical that it's just mine with issues. 
Look closely (blow up pictures) on listings found on the Internet. Look at the proof section. 
That's all I'm going to say, because I don't want to be accused of being ultra critical about this medal. I already have neutral karma. 
Because as most can attest, I really do love this series! And spent thousands (money where my mouth is) on it. I have most in the series...and for some (old summer Palace) a couple. The art work is stellar. Period. End of story. As you too can attest.
Yes. It is a good idea to let the issue rest for now. In scientific terms whatever information that seems to be out there right this minute is mainly anecdotal given that this medal was just released recently. It will take a few months, at least, for the grading organizations to accumulate enough data to give preliminary impressions of the quality profile of these medals.
Even at that the grading statistics is not likely to be different from the profile we already have for prior series. NBM posted data for previous classical garden medals. Optimistically, the Mountain Resort medals, for example, may grade better than YMY but not as well as the Lan Ting medal.
I really wish that at the end of this series a PhD student will write his/her thesis on the Classical Garden medal series either from the perspective of art appreciation, art history, metallurgy or even minting technology. There are several directions you can approach such a research thesis from. The student can even spend some time with NGC and PCGS and be taken through high magnification studies of the medals.
These medals are being produced with innovative technology which for now focuses more on imprinting sculpture-like multidimensional multi-faceted images on metal with plain vanilla coin stamping action. Some medals are stamped several times to produce the final image (ala the Mammoth medal). In these circumstances aiming for perfection (MS/PF 70) is not the initial aim. I believe the aim is to transfer a composite or artists' impression of key elements of the Gardens unto the medals. It is not envisaged that the Shanghai Mint has suddenly lost their expertise in wholesome coin/medal production.
Coin and medal grading was introduced to achieve different objectives. One of them is to provide a universal nomenclature that every coin collector understands no matter where you are. So a coin classified as PF 65 will be understood to be what it is and a PF 70 coin is, well, a PF70! This allows you to perform coin transactions from a distance without worry.
Coin grading does not mean that every coin should be perfect. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not everyone pays the same attention to the grade. In fact NGC/PCGS data shows that in many coin series less than 50% of the coins reach them for grading. We have even heard in various coin forums where members say they don't grade all their coins or medals. Many prefer them in their OMP.
If coin perfection is desired by all, 3-D printers can probably produce such in a consistent manner. In that case our medals will be soulless works of art on cold metal, every line straight and similar to the opposite side's. I prefer them to remain works produced by living beings like me and you, with all the blemishes that come from such endeavor. Thus various portions of the medal will reflect the artist's state of mind, health, concentration, mood, optimism, sadness, energy, lassitude, enthusiasm, doubt, inattention, distraction and all the thousands of factors to impact on the artist's and production team's functioning.
Let's give this medal time to land!
