The Chinese dominated the sport on home soil at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games with a total of 13 medals, including six golds, and they made a great start this time around by winning a total of five medals on day one.

There was even an all-Chinese final in the men's Individual Foil - Category A competition, as Ye Ruyi successfully defended his title from Beijing by seeing off world number 14 and fellow countryman Chen Yijun.

Ye bounced back from losing 5-4 to France's Damien Tokatlian in the group stages to beat the same opponent 15-8 in the semi-finals and with the final locked at 4-4, the 25-year-old then won 11 out of the next 12 points to beat Chen 15-5 to claim gold. In the bronze medal match, Hungary's Richard Osvath beat Tokatlian 15-7.

Ye said: 'I felt a lot of pressure because I lost a round earlier today in the preliminaries.'

Another of China's defending Paralympic Foil champions was also successful as Hu Daoliang beat world number one Anton Datsko of Ukraine 15-10 in the final of the Category B event.

Hu, the reigning world champion, also lost to a Frenchman in the group stages - Alim Latreche - but gained revenge with a 15-9 win over his European rival in the semi-finals, with Latreche then going on to beat Marco Cima of Italy 15-11 to win bronze.

'I felt a lot of pressure in both of these Games (Beijing and London), but in a different sense. I felt at home in 2008, I need to win for my home country. In 2012, because it's my first Paralympics outside China,' said 32-year-old Hu.

In the women's Individual Foil - Category B event, China's Yao Fang overcame Gyongyi Dani of Hungary 15-10 in the final.

In the bronze medal match, Marta Makowska beat China's Zhou Jingjing 15-14.

In the only final not won by China, Hong Kong's Yu Chui Yee won gold in Category A for the third Paralympic Games running thanks to a 15-13 win over Chinese fencer Wu Baili, while in all-Hungarian match for bronze it was Zsuzsanna Krajnyak who beat Veronika Juhasz 15-4.

Yu said: 'This is my third gold medal at the Paralympics. My parents just came here to celebrate with me. I wanted to share the gold medal with my parents.'