Chinese had a clean sweep of four gold medals at stake Tuesday morning on the first day of East Asian Games athletics competition.

Li Meiju sent China to a flying start by winning the women's shot put. Her toss of 18.12 was well ahead of 16.89 by Japanese Yoko Tononaga, which took the silver.

Chinese Liu Yingfan claimed the bronze with 16.50 meters.

Li said victory was sweet but the result was so-so.

"I feel tired from the Chinese National Games and I am not in my best shape," she said.

Li won the gold in the National Games early this month.

Jing Xuezhu and teammate Zheng Xingjuan finished 1-2 in the women's high jump.

Jing cleared 1.85 meters for the gold and Zheng took the silver with the same height. South Korean Park In-hee won the bronze with 1.70.

Wu Tao and Tulake Nuermainaiti also finished 1-2 for China in the men's discus throw final.

Wu threw 61.74 meters, beating his teammate by 2.53 meters.

South Korean Choi Jong-bum was third with 54.19.

In the five-athlete women's 10,000m run, Chinese Bao Guiying pulled away in the stretch to win in 34 minutes and 17 seconds.

Japanese Hiromi Ominami finished second in 32:36.62 with DPR Korean Paek Hyan-gok third in 34:53.06.