Chen Qin quit her 'cozy life' as a teacher to join the Second Artillery Force. [Photo/Xinhua]

'Golden advantage'

Chen said her team received theoretical and skill training with a group of male soldiers, and found that in some areas the women learned more quickly and scored higher.

"Our lack of height and strength does not really hamper us doing our job, as missile launch does not demand much physically," Chen said. But to cover contingencies, the women and their tutors made three tools - a stool a half-meter high, an extended wrench and a hook that helps them during missile launching.

Zhang Fangfang, 23, a former SAF switchboard operator, devised methods based on her experience remembering more than 1,000 phone numbers to help her teammates recall figures such as launching specifications.

Hu, the political commissar, admitted that he had been unsure the women could fulfill the task, but he found "a golden advantage" in the group.

"They are very careful and stable compared to men of their age, who tend to act on impulse," he said. "What matters in missile launching is a mental and psychological situation. We need trustworthy missile launching personnel who make no mistake even in 10,000 launches."

In mid-July, the team traveled more than 1,000 km to get to the plateau in Northwest China and took every test needed to be qualified SAF missile launching soldiers, from disguising themselves to camping and hand-to-hand combat in the wild. Two missiles they launched there later hit the targets exactly.

Women's gains

The PLA did not provide numbers or percentages of women who serve in the military or in combat positions, although it said women on the front line have increased in its four branches - army, navy, air force and SAF.

The rate in combat lags that of many developed nations, said Chen Zhou, a research fellow with the Academy of Military Science and principle author of China's 2010 white paper of national defense.

The US Defense Department reports that women make up 14.5 percent of active-duty US military personnel and nearly 20 percent of the Reserve and National Guard. A wide range of combat positions are open to women. On the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, for example, about one-fifth of the crew of 4,500 are women.

In Canada, almost all fighting positions are open to women, while in Russia women have access to several hundred command positions in every part of the military.

In China, women have served in the military at the PLA's beginning, in 1927, but mostly in lower-risk positions such as communication and healthcare. The first female transport pilots flew in 1952.

"The young women are not simple. Look how high they are flying!" Mao Zedong marveled as he watched them fly over Tian'anmen Square. He also asked the young women "not to be performers but be pilots of the people".

In 1995, the South China Sea Fleet finished training the first batch of female marines. Two years ago, 16 women piloting fighter planes passed their final test. And last year, a woman from Jiangsu province became the first helmswoman in the PLA navy by safely steering a 14,000-ton hospital ship through 5-meter seas en route to foreign countries.

According to the PLA Daily, China is among the countries with the most female pilots, though it gave no numbers. The air force has said it will train female pilots for strike aircraft and bombers.