Top Paralympians from southwest China's Yunnan Province will be rewarded with a big bonus, following a meeting honoring their excellent performances at the Beijing Paralympic Games.

Yunnan Provincial Government will give a prize of 150,000 yuan (about US$22,000) for each gold medal, 80,000 yuan (about US$12,000) for each silver, and 50,000 yuan (about US$7,300) for each bronze. Every new world record is worth 50,000 yuan (about US$7,300).

Wang Xiaofu

Based on the above standard, Wang Xiaofu, a swimmer who claimed two gold medals, two silver and two bronze with a new world record will get a bonus of more than 600,000 yuan (US$88,000). Another big winner is 18-year-old Yang Yuanrun, who claimed two gold medals, two silver and one bronze, breaking two world records.

The prizes for Paralympians ranking fourth to eighth range from 20,000 to 4,000 yuan (US$ 2,900 to 585). Coaches, trainers and delegation staff will get a proportion of the athletes' total bonus, ranging from 30 to 40 percent. All the athletes and coaches will each get a bonus of 2,000 yuan (US$ 293).

Yang Yuanrun

Forty-four athletes, eight coaches and two staff in the Chinese Paralympic delegation come from Yunnan Province. They took part in 52 events in nine sports, claiming ten gold medals, 19 silver and 11 bronze with seven new world records. According to the medal table based on Province, Yunnan ranked third on the gold medal tally and second on the total medal tally.

Bai Enpei, the Party Secretary of Yunnan and Qin Guangrong, the Provincial Governor both sent letters of congratulation to the Yunnan crew for their hard work and excellent performances at the Games.

(China.org.cn by Huang Shan September 23, 2008)