TEN high-skilled workers in Shenzhen were honored as “Pengcheng Craftsmen” by authorities Tuesday, with each of them receiving a 500,000 yuan (US$72,789) award, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

    He Yubing, a teacher at Shenzhen Second Senior Technical School, was one of the 10 craftsmen. He has devoted himself to automobile maintenance for 27 years. “I never expected that I would get such a high-level award from the government someday. It is a huge encouragement for skilled workers like me,” he said.

    These artisans are engaged in different fields such as manufacturing, transportation, energy and creative cultural industries. Most of them have been accredited as national or provincial skilled talents or craft masters and benefited from subsidies granted by the State Council.

    The selection of “Pengcheng Craftsmen” was first launched last year to honor the outstanding high-skilled workers in Shenzhen for their craftsmanship.

    “If scientific researchers work as the brain, then skilled workers are the body. The brain is taking a lead, while the body has to keep up with it,” said a spokesperson of the city’s human resources and social security bureau.

    He said that these craftsmen represent the highest level and potential of Shenzhen’s manufacturing industry, which will play an important role in creating “Shenzhen Quality.”

    A program to sponsor young high-skilled talents was launched as well. A total of 30 young skilled workers from different fields in Shenzhen, such as jewelry manufacturing, new-energy battery development and nuclear power reactor operating, were selected for the program.

    Each of them will be subsidized 200,000 yuan by the government to go abroad for further training.

    Guan Tianpei, 22, is the youngest among these skilled workers. Guan has studied automobile body technology since he was 15 years old, and he has become one of the best automobile body repair technicians in Shenzhen after winning many awards in national and provincial competitions.

    The city hosted 36 competitions for skilled workers last year and introduced incentive policies to increase financial support to outstanding technicians, according to the report.

    Additionally, training vouchers worth 50 million yuan were handed out to skilled workers last year, while an apprenticeship system was trialed at many enterprises, and Germany’s “Dual System” was introduced to improve the educational system for technicians.

    The population of skilled workers in Shenzhen reached 3.08 million by the end of last year, with a year-on-year growth of 7 percent, while over 26 percent of them were high-skilled workers.

    (Zhang Yang)