Young Technicians Shine in 2022 WSC

Chinese technicians competeat at the 2022 World Skills Competition (WSC) Special Edition in Salzburg, Austria, on November 26, 2022. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By LIN Yuchen

Young Chinese technicians performed well at the 2022 World Skills Competition (WSC) Special Edition, demonstrating a strong depth of talent that is advancing the country's real economy, according to the Chinese organizing committee of the competition.

Running from the middle of September to the end of November in various countries, the WSC events kept abreast of various industrial trends, setting an age limit of less than 22 for all participators.

The Chinese team won 21 golds in total, topping the gold list in the event.

"The key to my success is to study the artistic work of others as much as possible," said Luo Kai, a gold winner of the 3D Digital Game Art contest, adding that learning about the different domestic and exotic art styles is necessary to building up a unique style of your own.

A total of 63 contests were arranged for this WSC, covering six industries including logistics, architecture, manufacturing and engineering, information technology, creative art and fashion, and professional services.

"Achieving these [results] was definitely not without effort," said Chen Xiaoxi, associate professor of the Tianjin research center of WSC, adding that in the face of questioning voices from other countries on our capabilities to win, breakthroughs have now finally been made.

Since China joined the WorldSkills International in 2010, the organization that holds WSC every two years, there had been doubts arising from the international arena about the quality of Chinese technicians, according to Chen.

Backing the young technicians' progress also included policies that focus on technical talent development on a national scale.

In July 2021, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security released an action plan, setting the target of producing another 40 million skilled workers, which are expected to account for 30 percent of the whole nation's total workforce over the 14th Five Year Plan (2021-25) period.

On October 7, a State Council document highlighted the importance of constructing a WSC-alike vocational skill competition system, which would cover the whole nation.