Li Changchun, a senior politician serving as a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party's political bureau, attended a post-Games meeting with Chinese athletes, and described the Paralympics as "a stage for the handicapped to display their strong will".

"The spirit of the disabled delegation will inspire all Chinese people to overcome difficulties," he added.

"All levels of Government and society should strive to improve the lives of the disabled and foster healthy social conduct."

China has topped the Paralympic medal table at the last three Games and underlined the gap between them and everyone else at London 2012 by smashing their own gold medal record.

This summer, almost 30 years after they competed at the Paralympics for the first time, China won 95 gold medals, almost 60 more than second placed Russia.

They also won 71 silver and 65 bronze to finish with a total of 231, 111 more than Britain, the country who had the next best overall medal total.

It smashed the total of 211 China had won in Beijing four years ago when they claimed 89 gold medals.

China's Yang Yang shows his gold medal during the victory ceremony for the men's S2 50m backstroke at the London 2012 Paralympics

There is an estimated 83 million disabled people living in China at present.

Although the country's Paralympians thrive, the welfare of many of those living in the country with a disability has been highlighted as a concern.

However, Wang Xinxian, President of National Paralympic Committee of China (NPCC) and the team's Chef de Mission, believes that life for the disabled has started to improve.

"In the past five years, the Chinese Government helped about 10 million disabled lead a better life, about two thirds of the disabled get stable jobs," Xinxian told Xinhua.

"Scientific and hard training made the Chinese Para-athletes stronger and most of them were very confident in top-level competitions."

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