Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, is hosting the country's 1st Vocational Skills Competition, which kicked off today at the Canton Fair (China Import and Export Fair) Complex.
In a congratulatory letter to the event, Chinese President Xi Jinping said skilled workers are an important force in China's manufacturing and innovation sectors.
"The vocational skills competition offers a platform for skilled talent to show off their skills and exchange with each other," Xi said. "It's expected to help expand the number of skilled workers and promote economic and social development."
He called for governments at all levels to attach greater importance to skills, promoting the spirits of labor, labor models and craftsmen to encourage more people, especially the younger generation, to pursue high-level skills and cultivate more skilled talent.
With the theme “New Era, New Skills, New Dream,” the competition is the largest ever in China and will be held biennially.
The first competition is hosted by the government of Guangdong and will run through Sunday, with 2,557 contestants from all over the country competing in 86 skill programs and assessed by 2,376 judges.
The competitors, 83 percent male and 17 percent female, are between the ages of 16 and 58, and 90 percent are younger than 30. Almost half are students from vocational and technical schools, and more than 40 percent are college and university students. The rest are employed by businesses.
Among the skill programs, 63 are included in the 46th WorldSkills Competition scheduled to take place in Shanghai in 2022. As such, contestants in these programs will also compete for places on the national training team for international competition.
Nine of the skills programs are for pairs, one is for trios and the other 76 are for single participants.
According to Zhang Lixin, head of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's professional capabilities development department and secretary general of the national skills competition's organizing committee, the competition's skills cover 14 industries, including manufacturing, information technology, transportation, construction and services.
“All the skills serve the real economy,” Zhang said. “More than half belong to production and services industries, and about 40 percent to emerging industries.”
Winners will be announced at the closing ceremony Sunday night.
The top three winners or winning teams of each skill program will be given gold, silver and bronze medals. Contestants and teams who finish in the top half of each program will receive medallions for excellence.
To encourage participation from people in West China, the event will give out awards exclusively for them.
The medals have the Chinese character for skill and an embossment of the Great Wall on one side, and images of Guangdong landmarks such as the Canton Tower and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on the other.
To ensure the event isn't adversely affected by COVID-19, organizers put strict prevention measures in place.
More than 10,000 people entering the 224,000-square-meter event venue, including contestants, judges, delegation members, observers and media, have taken at least two nucleic acid tests in advance. They've also been reporting their health conditions every day since the end of November.
More than 100 companies, including Huawei, Tencent and Siemens, have provided 630-million yuan (US$96.21 million) worth of equipment and technical support for the event, such as workshop construction and devices similar to those used in real work environments, including helicopters, subway cars and milling machines.
Organizers selected 600 volunteers from technical schools in Guangzhou out of 2,000 applicants to serve in roles such as event organization, pickup, reception and etiquette service.
Due to the pandemic, only a limited number of people can watch the competition on site, but there are livestreams for people to watch it online.
The event also features interactive activities, including 179 booths set up by government agencies, enterprises and schools to show the development and characteristics of various skills, as well as the latest technologies and products.
There will also be 20 performances of traditional Chinese skills. Organizers received 171 performance applications related to high technology, handicrafts and artistic creativity. Forty of them have been broadcast online and received more than 20 million votes. The top 10 will be selected and awarded at the competition's closing ceremony.
 

Shanghai is promoting the 46th WorldSkills Competition and the WorldSkills Museum at the ongoing 1st Vocational Skills Competition of China in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.
At a booth in the exhibition area of the Canton Fair Complex, venue for the national skills competition, mascots, logos, slogans and information of the 46th WorldSkills Competition, which is due to take place in Shanghai in 2022, are on display.
The booth also has a model of the WorldSkills Museum, which is under construction in Shanghai.
“We hope skilled people from all over the country can learn about the international exhibition and seek potential sponsors,” said Shan Bo, planner of the exhibition booth. “Meanwhile, we also hope to solicit exhibits for the museum. Luckily, some people have approached to offer their collections these days.”
At the museum exhibition area, 20 skills experts and intangible heritage inheritors have been invited to tell the stories of their skills and record them as oral history.
Shanghai skills on display
Shanghai is also showing the skills development in the city at the booth, such as the integration of online and offline training for skilled talent, the increase in highly skilled staff from 6 percent of all city skilled workers in 2002 to 34 percent last year, as well as programs to engage skills masters in spreading their expertise.
A training system featuring mixed reality (MR) technology attracted visitors to try their hand at repairing a vehicle’s engine.
“VR and AR technologies are popular now but MR is new in China,” said Shan. “We brought this exhibit to show the latest technology in skills training in manufacturing in Shanghai.”
Barista qualifications
Several baristas are showing off their skills in making coffee at a mini bar at the booth. The coffee, with beans from Yunnan Province which is paired with Shanghai in poverty relief, attracted a lot of visitors.
“The coffee industry is booming in China these years and Shanghai is taking a leading role with its consumption volume, coffee culture and service skills, with an increasing demand for professional baristas,” Zhou Fang, secretary general of the Shanghai Technician Association’s Coffee Professional Committee.
Zhou said Shanghai is leading the drafting of national standards for barista qualifications.
“We’ve invited experts from all over the country for the draft and it is expected to be released next year. After that, we will also develop textbooks and other teaching materials for barista training. We hope the standards will help improve the service level in the barista industry in China.”
Zhou said the experts have proposed the inclusion of five levels for barista qualifications, ranging from primary barista to senior technician.
“A primary barista should master basic skills for service at a coffee shop, while a senior technician should know how to serve coffee, select and roast coffee beans, and also how to run a coffee shop and make it profitable.”
Zhou said currently many coffee shops train baristas themselves and lacked unified standards. In the future, baristas will be able to get certificates as long as they pass qualification tests as in other vocations. Also, with these standards, we hope baristas can be a competition category in next national vocational skills competition.”
At the mini bar were two students from the Shanghai Trade School.
One was Chen Jiangping, a student from Yunnan Province.
“Though Yunnan is a source for coffee beans, I began to learn coffee culture and making skills after I entered the school in September,” she said. “A senior student from my school – Lu Xiaofei – was champion at the third Shanghai Coffee Masters Cup last week. She is my idol now and I would like to be an outstanding barista like her in the future and promote Yunnan coffee after graduation.”

The Shanghai “Four Brands” Skill Competition officially kicked off on Friday in Minhang District for the second consecutive year.
The brands — services, manufacturing, shopping and culture — aim to boost craftsmanship and innovation, together creating a platform for cultural inheritance and influence, said officials from the district during the opening ceremony.
To cultivate talent, four senior vocational training bases were also launched by city associations in the fields of transportation, Internet and medicine.
At the Hongqiao International Exhibition Center, over 300 participants took part in competitions in 27 vocational skills related to culture and consumption, such as latte art, baking, fashion, filmmaking and flower arrangement.
Interactive activities including pattern cutting, knitting, Peking Opera mask making and Dunhuang instruments were offered to visitors, who can experience traditional culture through traditional skills.
Livestreaming was also highlighted during this year’s event, with experts invited to share their knowledge and expertise. There were also livestreamers from Yunnan Province boosting local businesses.
“These livestreamers were selected from local schools in Yunnan. They are interested in livestreaming business. This is an opportunity for them to finesse their skills, as well as support the economy of poor regions,” said Qu Jun, director of the employment promotion center in Minhang.
She added that the competition gives entrants a platform to explore their passions and make progress.
Lu Yiwei, a student from the Shanghai Institute of Technology who won the gold medal for flower arrangement at the 45th WorldSkills Competition last year, exhibited his work at the event. He said the competition provides contestants with a stage to exhibit themselves to the public.
“Most competitions in this field usually take place in studios, and winners are admired within the industry. It’s a pleasure to see it become better-known among the public,” said Lu.
Dong Yuanpei, a 22-year-old competitor in latte making, said that he hopes to gain experience and broaden his horizons through the competition.
Competitions in the other two fields — services and manufacturing — as well as the closing ceremony will be held in the Pudong New Area on November 18.

The second Shanghai "Four Brands" Skills Competition concluded on Wednesday.

After shopping and culture skills in Minhang District last Friday, Wednesday’s contestants showed off their skills in services and manufacturing at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center in the Pudong New Area.

Shanghai has made it a development strategy to raise its prestige in these four areas.
Most of the skills in Wednesday’s competition were from core industries in Shanghai and featured scientific innovation in five themes — "data changes life," "data improves quality," "transport brings convenience," "environmental protection promotes health" and "skills carry on craftsmanship."
About 400 competitors in 38 teams competed in eight categories, including industrial mechanics, robotic system integration, cyber security, 3D printing and drug testing.
Some of the skills also feature in the WorldSkills Competition and they were organized with WorldSkills Competition rules and standards.
The competition was not only aimed at selecting talent for Shanghai's development but also potential contestants for the 46th WorldSkills Competition due to take place in the city in 2022.
“It’s a great opportunity to try out my skills at a local competition before I head to Guangzhou to take part in the first national vocational skills competition next month, which will select the finalists to compete for tickets to represent China at the 46th WorldSkills Competition,” said Zhu Ke, winner in freight forwarding on Wednesday.
Zhu said the competition tested her capabilities in various aspects, such as communication with clients, shipping companies and airlines, understanding import and export policies in different countries, as well as handling emergencies.
“The biggest challenge for Chinese competitors is the English language as it’s not our mother language,” she said. “But I hope I can represent China at the event held in the city two years later.”
Zhu Gaohong, winner of SLA 3D printing at last year’s “Four Brands” competition, was a judge at this year’s event.
“I’m looking forward to the 46th WorldSkills Competition,” he said. “Today's event is organized according to the standards of the world event. I think it’s an opportunity for all the competitors to improve their skills. For me, a competition is not only a platform for competitors to show off their skills, but also a platform for people from all walks of life to communicate with each other.”
Besides competitions, there were also 12 skills on display, such as railway maintenance and joinery, and another 12 for interaction with visitors, such as rescue drones and disinfecting robots.
The competition broadcast on CCTV, Tencent and Douyin was watched by more than 230,000 people.

WorldSkills International officially announced today the postponement of WorldSkills Shanghai 2021 by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

WorldSkills International has communicated and collaborated closely with its Members, Competition Organizers, Partners, and stakeholders throughout 2020, and has recently hosted a series of meetings with all stakeholders to transparently and collaboratively consider all possible scenarios around risk management and risk mitigation. This decision was made today based on facts, educated and informed forecasts, lessons learned from other events and organizations, and strategic perspectives built around what is best for all stakeholders. 

WorldSkills International believes an early and clear decision is best for all stakeholders. It provides a much higher degree of certainty for everyone that then allows planning, managing, and recalibrating the next 12-24 months (and the future beyond that).

This decision means that all future events will also be moved by one year so WorldSkills Lyon 2023 will move to 2024.

WorldSkills China and the Municipality of Shanghai fully support the postponement and appreciates the strong partnership with WorldSkills and its Members and Partners and is committed to an event that is full of innovation and wide-reaching impact. The actual rescheduled date is not yet finalized but is expected to be between October to November 2022.

WorldSkills France and WorldSkills Lyon 2023 Competition Organizer also fully support the postponement and future cycle changes due to their understanding and respect for the investment of a Competition host and the benefits and legacy achieved.

Postponing the Competitions allows for the selection, training, and proper celebration of the achievements of the young, skilled Champions. It also allows Members to “reboot” their national activities and programmes in 2021.

“Our Competitors represent the skilled talent that has been essential in the global response to the pandemic, demonstrating without a doubt that skills change lives,” said Chris Humphries, President and Chair of the Board. “We are grateful for the support of both WorldSkills China and WorldSkills France and their organizing teams who have worked closely with

WorldSkills International to reach what we all believe is the best solution to preserve the integrity and spirit of the Competition.”

WorldSkills Members local and national competitions were put on hold throughout 2020, delaying the selection and training of teams to participate in WorldSkills Shanghai 2021. Members around the world have already begun planning and hosting alternative Competitions and online training programmes to continue the work of encouraging young people to take up vocational education and training.

“We believe more than ever that skills and young people will lead us down the road to global economic recovery and prosperity,” said David Hoey, CEO of WorldSkills International.

“Alongside our Members and Global Partners, we will use the next 12 months to continue connecting with young people through a series of exciting and innovative programmes that will embrace a year of innovation and inspire more young people to take up skills.”

The 46th WorldSkills Competition will be hosted in Shanghai, China in 2022 featuring over 1,400 Competitors from more than 60 countries and regions, competing in over 60 skills. WorldSkills Competitions create a global platform to develop help young people who want to change their lives and the fortunes of their communities and societies.

Editor’s note:

The 46th WorldSkills Competition, a biennial global vocational contest, will be held in Shanghai in September 2021. Three previous winners of WorldSkills awards who have been named ambassadors for the event share their personal stories to inspire more young people to learn vocational skills.

Chen Yifan, 23, is now a first-class flight attendant at China Eastern Airlines and also a coach at the company’s technology application development center.
After graduating from the middle school division of the Shanghai Foreign Language School Affiliated to Shanghai International Studies University, she failed admission to the high school division.

“I thought it was shameful, but I turned my eyes to another path – to be a flight attendant,” she said. “My grandparents regretted that I didn’t pursue my childhood dream of becoming a teacher.”

Chen started studying at the Shanghai Civil Aviation College in a class tailored for China Eastern Airlines.

Her chance came in 2015, when China was selecting candidates to compete in the Restaurant Service category at the 44th WorldSkills Competition. She was selected as one of the 10 candidates from China Eastern Airlines because of her excellent command of English.

The category requires competitors to provide high-quality food and drink services to guests played by volunteers.

“It is not just about carrying plates to tables,” Chen said. “The tests require the skills of a chef, barista, bartender and even restaurant manager. We had to arrange food, make coffee and cocktails, and provide services in different styles for targeted customers.”

For Chen, the most challenging part was wine-tasting.

“I had never drunk alcohol before training, and when I first had to smell the aroma of wines in blind tasting, I could not tell the difference at all.”

With hard training, she developed a taste and smell for more than 100 alcohol products from different countries. After 18 months, she never made a mistake in blind tasting.

She also practiced repeatedly on making latte coffee, on using silent counting to calculate that six glasses of champagne have the same liquid level and on cutting fruit without touching them to her hands or wasting parts of them.

Opening a bottle of champagne was also a difficult challenge. No sound or splashing is allowed in Western dining etiquette. With constant practice, she finally mastered how to rotate the cork with her thumb and pull it out gently.

When a customer used a wrong knife or fork, she removed both the wrong and right utensils and provided a new set without embarrassing the customer. She accepted customer comments and questions with a smile and timely responses.

Her hard work propelled her to the 2017 finals in Abu Dhabi in 2017.

In the competition, Chen found that several core ingredients in her recipe for a mixed cocktail weren’t available because of the liquor ban in Abu Dhabi. So she chose other ingredients that made the drink refreshing in a hot climate.

“Fresh Morning,” she said, when the judges asked the name of her drink. “I’d like everyone in Abu Dhabi to have a fresh morning.”

She won a medallion for excellence, and the achievement made her grandparents proud. She has also won various awards in Shanghai and China. China Eastern Airlines even set up a workshop in her name to train candidates for the competition.

Recently, she became the Asian representative of the WorldSkills Competition Championship Liaison Group, a post no Chinese have previously held.

“I hope the world can come to understand China and Shanghai,” she said. “When you master a skill, life is full of possibilities.”

Editor’s note:

The 46th WorldSkills Competition, a biennial global vocational contest, will be held in Shanghai in September 2021. Three previous winners of WorldSkills awards who have been named ambassadors for the event share their personal stories to inspire more young people to learn vocational skills.

Song Biao, 21, who won a gold medal at the 44th WorldSkills Competition, now teaches at the Changzhou Technician College in neighboring Jiangsu Province.
He started studying mold design and manufacturing at the college’s mechanical engineering department in 2014.

“I did not do very well in the high school entrance exam,” he said. “My score ensured me entry only in a very ordinary high school. So I told my parents that I would like to learn some skills instead. Luckily, they supported me.”

He added, “But many relatives and friends actually felt it was a bad choice because they thought I would become a blue-collar worker, which they didn’t view as a decent job with a promising future.”

Song made his decision about a career path after visiting the factory in Changzhou where his father worked as a technician every summer vacation.

“I was astonished to see that they could make all kinds of components out of tough iron materials,” he said. “I thought it was magical, and I was very curious about their skills.”

Driven by that interest, Song studied very hard. His academic performance and mechanical skills were so outstanding that he had won numerous scholarships.

In 2016, he breezed through provincial and national trials to become the only contestant representing China in the Industrial Mechanic Millwright category at the 44th

WorldSkills Competition held in Abu Dhabi in 2017.

There, he won the championship in the category and also the Albert Vidal Award for best all-round performer, with the highest score among over 1,260 competitors.

He is the first and only Chinese competitor to have won the award. A duplicate of the medal has been donated to the Shanghai-based WorldSkills Museum, which will open during the 46th competition next year.

Song’s success was the result of sweat and toil. The competition tested skills in making components, machine installation, welding, turnery, milling, metalworking and debugging, with an allowed 0.02-millimeter margin of error.

“With the development of digital-control equipment and robotics, human beings will be replaced in doing some simple work,” Song said. “But the fine, complicated work that requires excellent techniques, we still have to do it with hands.”

He remembers the training for the WorldSkills Competition as tiring. He usually trained from 8am to 10pm, and sometimes until as late as 3am. Sometimes he had to punch more than 100 holes a day in steel plates.

“I did have thoughts about giving it all up,” he said, recalling how lonely he felt when he was the only one to remain on campus during the winter vacation. “But my coaches told me that I would learn more with every step as I moved forward. My father also told me that I should go straight forward on the path I have chosen.”

He was the recipient of several Chinese awards after the competition, but despite his honored status, he chose to stay at the college as a teacher. He is now an assistant coach for future WorldSkills candidates.

“Now as an ambassador, I hope that my experiences can inspire more young people,” Song said. “I hope my students will choose vocational skills as a proud first choice instead of just an afterthought.”
 

Editor’s note:

The 46th WorldSkills Competition, a biennial global vocational contest, will be held in Shanghai in September 2021. Three previous winners of WorldSkills awards who have been named ambassadors for the event share their personal stories to inspire more young people to learn vocational skills.

Yuan Qiang, 23, is happy to see the changes that happened in Shandong Province after he won a gold medal at the 44th WorldSkills Competition.

“My college has developed more strength in skills such as print media technology, plumbing and heating, water technology and information network cabling,” he said of the school where he now teaches. “Other schools in the province have, too.”

Yuan started his six-year study of modern manufacturing engineering in 2012, after an unsatisfactory performance in the high school entrance exam.

“Our students are trained to address the real needs of enterprises, and they usually find work immediately upon graduation,” he said.

He began training for the WorldSkills Competition in October 2015, and went on to win the gold medal in October 2017 in the category of Industrial Control.

According to Yuan, that category tests technical skills such as designing circuitry, installing conduits, troubleshooting and programming.

“All the projects in the competition spring from real life and work, though many are not regarded by Chinese parents as good career choices,” he said. “But I think things are changing. Our government has been attaching greater importance to vocational training and education.”

He added, “I now see many parents more willing to have their children learn skills and become high-end blue-collar workers. I hope as an ambassador, I can raise the public awareness of the competition and promote wider respect for vocational skills.”

The WorldSkills Museum, which is being built in Shanghai, will tell the story of how skills and WorldSkills have changed the lives of people and societies around the world - and how they continue to drive progress in the 21st century.

The museum will include six main exhibition zones where visitors from around the world can enjoy interactive events and installations featuring augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality and other technologies.

The first zone will demonstrate how tools are the foundation of human progress. The second zone will provide an introduction to the WorldSkills movement including its origins in Spain, the first international competition in 1953, and its influence around the world.

The third zone section will show visitors how China has been pursuing the development of skills throughout its history. Visitors may also be able to see how vocational education and training can provide a better life for people in China.

The fourth will guide visitors to develop a better understanding about how skills can build a better world. For example, it will show how skilled workers and industrial partners have cooperated in solving challenges in modern society.

The fifth section will show the close connection between skills and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). It aims to attract young people to participate in learning skills.

The sixth section will focus on skills and the Industrial Revolution. Visitors will see how skills have been driving the stages of the Industrial Revolution over the last three centuries.

There will also be other areas for temporary exhibitions, a children’s gallery, a café and multiple-functional rooms.

WorldSkills continues to collect objects and stories from around the world. It is looking for items that show the role of skills in human life and that demonstrate the work of the WorldSkills organization, as well as tools and equipment linked to all industries. The collection is expected to contribute to the understanding of societies, people, events and activities related to WorldSkills. Medals, pins, photographs, videos, test project outcomes, historic documents, equipment and tools linked to skills are wanted. Information about personal experiences in the regional, national or international competitions from 1950 to the present day are also welcome.

Anyone with items, stories or other information can email the museum at  nuria.portland@worldskills.org.

Visitors to WorldSkills Shanghai 2021 in September next year will be able to enjoy a trip to the new WorldSkills Museum on Huangpu River waterfront in Yangpu District.    

Work is underway to turn the century-old Wing On Warehouse, also known as Yong’an Warehouse, into a showcase for vocational skills, an international platform for communication, and an education center for young people.      

The location of the Museum was carefully selected to demonstrate how important skills are in promoting industrial and economic development. Yangpu is known as the cradle of modern industry in China, where a British company built the country’s first modern water plant — Yangshupu Waterworks. It was designed by British architect J.W. Hart and put into use in 1883.      

The district also had China’s first sugar processing plant and urban gas plant.      

By 1949, there were nearly 1,000 enterprises in the district with about 100,000 workers. Gross industrial production was 720 million yuan (US$103.6 million), accounting for 5 percent of the national total and 20 percent of the city’s production.      

The Wing On No. 1 Cotton Mill, built in 1921 by two brothers Kwok Lok and Kwok Chuen, was one of the most successful in the district. The brothers set up the Wing On Department Store, one of the four big Chinese department stores on Nanjing Road at that time. The roar of 700 machines in the mill used to be one of the real life illustrations of the city’s booming modern industry.      

Built in 1930, the twin buildings which cover about 20,000 square meters will be home to the WorldSkills Museum. The structures were unique in being supported by octagonal prism concrete reinforcing pillars without beams. Batches of goods were transported from the inconspicuous grey buildings every day, and the unremarkable wharves and warehouses were tightly linked to the flourishing national industry of the day.      

The Wing On Warehouse was occupied by the Japanese army in 1937, and Shanghai No. 29 Cotton Mill took it over after the liberation of the city.When the country began to develop chemical industry in 1961, the western part of the buildings was assigned to the Shanghai Chemical Plant as a raw material warehouse, while the eastern part still belonged to the Shanghai No. 29 Cotton Mill. It changed its name to Shanghai No. 29 Cotton Dyeing Mill in 1966 but gradually fell into decay.      

Today, the Wing On Warehouse is one of the 64 non-movable historic relics in Yangpu under protection status.    

In 2017, the 2.8-kilometer Huangpu River waterfront in south Yangpu was completed while the Wing On Warehouse under the Yangpu Bridge was also restored to its original appearance as one of the key scenic spots in the area.The inner structure, rust and all, remained as a hint to the building’s history. The water tower on top of the buildings was rebuilt according to historical photographs, with workers using modern technology to make them zero-carbon buildings.      

On October 14, 2017, the Chinese delegation told a news conference in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates that Shanghai, as the host city for the 46th WorldSkills Competition, would be building a WorldSkills Museum.      

On January 30, 2018, China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Shanghai government and WorldSkills International signed an agreement to build the museum.

On 2 May that year, the Wing On Warehouse was selected as the site for the WorldSkills Museum.