With red faces and shining eyes, they are laughing and sweating in the freezing winter.

Like many other sports lovers in Beijing, they meet every week at the stadium attached to the Capital Sports Institute to play tennis.

"I know who they are," said the guard at the stadium, smiling.

Almost all Chinese know who they are: They are the women ministers of the country.

"We love sports. Sports keep us fresh and give us great energy, which is necessary for us to do a good job," said Wu Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

"Sports are also a test of willpower."

Wu was the first leader of the China Jinguo Tennis Team, which was founded in 1994.

The first-ever team included Peng Peiyun, He Luli, Chen Muhua, Gu Xiulian, Zhang Caizhen, Li Shuzheng and Zhu Lilan.

Members of the team also included Wan Shaofen, Deng Nan, Hu Qiheng, Wei Yu, Liu Shu, Lin Liyun, Pan Beilei and Nie Li.

The women ministers' tennis team has expanded in the past eight years.

With 28 members, the team has recently attracted Chen Zhili, Li Haifeng, Shen Shuji, Tian Shulan, Zhao Shi and Lin Wenyi.

Peng Peiyun, vice-chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and chairperson of All-China Women's Federation, is the team leader.

"Since the team was founded we have been playing tennis together once a week and holding contests twice a year," said Zhang Caizhen, vice-chairperson of All-China Sports Federation. "We also practice singing and go fishing together. We all cherish our team. It makes us feel like sisters."

Among the team members, Wu Yi is a great sports lover. She is proficient at tennis, billiards, softball, bowling, golf and fishing.

Together with Peng Peiyun, she won the women's doubles championship at the first contest held after the team's founding.

He Luli, now vice-chairperson of NPC Standing Committee, was beaten by Wu at the 1994 contest. After the defeat, she said she would have to "learn the sport again from the beginning."

Having made great improvements in the past eight years, she won second place in the women's doubles last year.

"We do exercises, chat and laugh when we play tennis. It's good for the health and mind," He Luli said.

At college, Peng Peiyun was a member of the Tsinghua University Women's Volleyball Team and also a member of the university's basketball team.

As team leader today, she has hardly missed the weekly activity and is always full of vigor.

On December 29, the team members gathered at 3:00 pm, began making exercises under the guidance of professional coaches.

To the rhythm of music, the women ministers moved their shoulders and waists in circles, stretched their legs and exercised vigorously.

Pan Beilei, vice-president of China Light Industry Association, looked especially graceful as she completed the exercises.

She explained that she was good at gymnastics as well as shooting in her school years.

Cheers echoed in the stadium during the contest held after the exercises. Zhao Shi, vice-minister of State Administration of Broadcasting, Film and Television, won the championship in the singles.

In addition to playing tennis, team members are also learning dancing and singing together.

Wu Yi, He Luli, Zhang Caizhen, Lin Liyun, Hu Qiheng, Wan Shaofen, Liu Yandong, Lie Li, Pan Beilei and Gu Xiulian have appeared on television to perform Chinese and Russian folk songs.

Peng Peiyun said the founding of the China Jinguo Tennis Team has encouraged the women government officials to organize various sports teams in southwest China's Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, central China's Hunan Province, east China's Zhejiang Province and northeast China's Liaoning Province.

"We are enjoying sports and colorful lives just like other Chinese," Peng said.

(China Daily February 13, 2003)