AFTER bouncing between various gigs since the age of 18, Luo Xikun finally landed his dream job — flying drones in Shenzhen. Now 31, Luo has participated in the development and testing of 18 drone express delivery routes for Meituan, a leading Chinese e-commerce platform that is well-known for its food delivery services.

Luo started as a kitchen assistant and later became a take-away delivery driver for Meituan. While working, the young man pursued a bachelor’s degree. Curious about mechanical devices since childhood, Luo had always hoped to find a job related to mechanics. When Meituan started recruiting its delivery drivers to become drone pilots in April 2022, he decided to give it a shot.

After more than a month of intensive theoretical and practical training, he passed the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s (CAAC) professional drone pilot exam and received a qualification certificate. He was then selected to be an emergency drone pilot for Meituan after fierce competition.

Since then, both his work environment and personal life have undergone great changes. “I used to spend 8 to 10 hours a day on roads delivering food. Now I need to think and learn constantly, otherwise I will not keep up with changes... Flying is not a small thing, and it allows no mistake,” Luo said.

With accumulated drone delivery experience, Luo recently transferred to a new position focusing on drone flight testing and new route exploration, which led him to a fantastic place — the Great Wall. “I never thought that my first time climbing the Great Wall would be as part of a team launching a drone route there for express delivery,” he said.

On Aug. 16, Beijing launched its first drone logistics delivery route along the Badaling section of the Great Wall, which enables tourists to receive summer relief items and emergency supplies within minutes. A single trip to the spot used to take around 50 minutes on foot.

Before the launch, Luo and his colleagues spent half a month conducting surveys on the route. Every morning, he began climbing the Great Wall at six or seven o’clock and reached his work site after about 40 minutes.

To Luo, it was “a challenging but exciting experience.” Previously, drone route planning and testing was mostly conducted in cities where there was no altitude difference between takeoff and landing sites. However, the route along the Great Wall has an altitude difference of 200 meters. The fickle mountain climate — high winds, sudden hail, and rapidly changing fog — also posed challenges to the survey and test flights.

Luo said that the Great Wall reflects the wisdom and greatness of ancient China, and today’s sci-tech advancements allow people to conveniently experience the Great Wall. “I feel particularly proud of it,” he added.

Luo’s occupational transition is not only a personal growth experience, but also an example of the country’s pursuit of high-quality development driven by sci-tech innovation. The Chinese Government has taken various actions to promote high-quality employment for youth. Efforts to foster new quality productive forces, including the low-altitude economy, are constantly generating new job opportunities for young people like Luo.

It is a normal phenomenon that labor flows from low-productivity industries to high-productivity ones, according to Li Chunlin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission. “While promoting economic transformation and industrial upgrading, technological progress will also give birth to many new occupations and jobs,” Li said.

Li pointed out that there are currently one million job vacancies for drone pilots, a new profession generated from the booming low-altitude economy. Relatedly, there were 194,400 valid drone pilot licenses in the industry by the end of 2023, an increase of 27.2% over the end of 2022.

By the end of 2023, a total of 1.267 million drones were registered across the industry, a 32.2% increase compared with the end of 2022, according to a statistical communique from the CAAC.

China is deepening reforms related to the building of its industrial workforce, according to a set of guidelines recently issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council. The country will promote modern vocational education, increase efforts to foster talent with comprehensive technical skills, and refine the lifelong vocational skills training system for industrial workers, according to the guidelines.

Eyeing the skies, Luo is “full of expectations” and keen to participate in new aspects of the growing low-altitude economy. To him, the possibilities of new drone applications reach far beyond the current express deliveries of food and groceries. “Maybe, they can shuttle patients’ specimens for testing between homes and hospitals.”

“Career transformation has increased not only my income but also my interest in drones. I have an increasingly clear career target — I want to obtain the drone instructor certificate,” Luo said. (Xinhua)