They are all Olympic gold medal winners, they are all good-looking young women and they are all representatives to the ongoing 16th Communist Party Congress.
They are the "trophy delegates" to the Congress, the spiritually uplifting eye-candy to the elder male party members that serve as the elite rulers of China's 1.3 billion people.
They also represent the successes of a capital-intensive state-run sports system that is geared at projecting national strength through sports and dedicated to winning Olympic gold medals for the country.
"I think it is pretty obvious that if I was not an Olympic champion, I wouldn't be a delegate to the 16th Party Congress," said Yang Yang, 26, China's first-ever gold medalist at a Winter Olympic Games.
The smiling and pretty speed skater said she calls the older delegates "uncle and auntie," admits she doesn't recognize most of the ministers and top party officials and has no particular political demands to make on the ruling party.
Party sports
"In many other countries, athletes get little or no support from their governments, but the Communist Party is the ruling party of our country, as far as I'm concerned it is the government, so for me to be here reflects the importance the party places on sports," she said.
Yang, who struck gold at this year's Salt Lake Games, was a last-minute selection to the Congress and sits on the prestigious delegation of top central party and state officials, around 150 strong.
She is one of four sports delegates to the powerful group that also includes the minister and vice minister of sports, and Zhou Jihong, 36, the first in a long line of Chinese Olympic diving champions.
Zhou, another diminutive young woman, is now the head of China's national diving team and has been instrumental in maintaining the country's dominance in the sport since she won a diving gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics at the tender age of 14.
Other delegates to the Congress include Wang Nan, 26, reigning Olympic champion in women's table tennis, and Chen Xiaomei, 25, an Olympic gold medal weightlifter.
Wang sits on the delegation from northeastern Liaoning province, while Chen is with the southern Guangdong province delegation.
Girl power
"This girl is really intelligent, I want you all to know that this is true, she is really intelligent," said Guangdong governor Lu Ruihua as he introduced Chen ahead of her speech.
"Thank you, governor," Chen replied in a dismissive tone that had the delegation laughing.
She then proceeded to outline the importance the government plays in supporting and encouraging athletes, while warning them that "our international standing" will be badly harmed if the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are not organized successfully.
Chen won her first world championship at the age of 16, and after a temporary doping ban in 1997 came back to win a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney.
"I was world champion in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997," Chen said, "I've broken world records about 10 times."
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