FOUR contestants from Shenzhen brought home three gold medals and one award of excellence from the 48th WorldSkills Competition, which concluded in Shanghai on Sunday.

Qin Xiutao, Qiu Shubin and Li Wentao won gold in industrial design technology, jewelry processing and restaurant service, respectively. Du Meiting received an award of excellence in graphic design technology.

Qin, a student at Shenzhen Institute of Technology, was overcome with emotion as she stepped off the podium, draped in China’s national flag. “Persistence pays off, and the effort was worth it!” she said.

Her competition task was to design a quadcopter drone, a challenge that demanded complex structural design, refined exterior styling, precise calculations, stable balance and support, and the assembly of numerous intricate components, all within a set time. Qin completed every part of it with distinction.

Jewelry processing, a traditional WorldSkills event, is known in the industry as a hardcore “endurance battle” that tests contestants’ concentration, proficiency and psychological resilience. Throughout the competition, contestants had to independently complete a full set of processes including blueprint interpretation, material analysis, shaping, welding and assembly, and fine polishing. Dozens of interlocking procedures were done entirely by hand, leaving no room for carelessness. Qiu, also from Shenzhen Institute of Technology, devoted himself to meticulous work and precise control, ultimately delivering a jewelry piece of exquisite craftsmanship and flawless detail.

In restaurant service, Li from Shenzhen Polytechnic University demonstrated the professional standards of the event to the fullest. The competition tests comprehensive qualities: a broad knowledge of international dining, familiarity with service rules in various scenarios, and compliance with occupational health, safety and low-carbon waste reduction norms. Good English communication, on-the-spot adaptability and proper etiquette are all indispensable. This was China’s first gold medal in restaurant service, and the first ever won by an Asian contestant.

Du from Shenzhen Institute of Technology received the Award of Excellence in graphic design technology. The four modules of the graphic design technology event were all themed around elements of this year’s WorldSkills Competition, such as redesigning the back of a medal, creating new packaging for a medal, and creatively designing a webpage for the WorldSkills Museum. These comprehensively tested contestants’ integration and understanding of design technology, cultural creativity, national storytelling and global image.

The WorldSkills Competition is known as the “Olympics of Skills” and is the world’s highest-level and largest international vocational skills event, with its competitive standards representing the most advanced levels across fields.

This year’s edition was held in Shanghai, featuring 64 skill events and bringing together 1,385 contestants from 68 countries and regions. China sent 71 contestants to compete in all 64 events, winning 41 gold, 11 silver and 4 bronze medals, along with 6 awards of excellence. The country ranked first in both the gold medal tally and overall team score for the fifth time, achieving its best result since joining the competition.

Among them, 17 contestants from Guangdong Province represented the country in 16 WorldSkills events, with both the number of contestants and events ranking first nationwide. Guangdong contestants won 13 gold, one bronze and two awards of excellence. Their gold medals accounted for nearly one-third of the national total, and their medals accounted for one-quarter, fully demonstrating the hardcore strength of a major manufacturing and skills province.

Shenzhen’s presence at the competition was also remarkable. Since 2015, Shenzhen contestants have appeared on the WorldSkills stage for six consecutive editions, accumulating eight gold, three silver, two bronze medals and four awards of excellence.

The impact of the competition is also reaching beyond the arena, into classrooms and onto production lines. At the WorldSkills Expo’s technical college exhibition area, Shenzhen Institute of Technology, which serves as the lead training base for the industrial design technology and graphic design technology events, drew widespread attention at home and abroad with a simple but powerful message: how to turn one person’s championship into a generation of skills.

Beyond the competition, similar technologies are already finding their way into everyday life. In Shenzhen, drones deliver takeout to smart pickup lockers, and urban logistics drones carry goods along regular low-altitude routes.

Each medal reflects the depth of Shenzhen’s high-skilled talent pipeline. In recent years, the city has adopted a “competition-driven” approach to skills development — training workers in whatever fields industry needs most, and using WorldSkills standards to raise both the quality of its workforce and the competitiveness of its industries. That industry-training link is especially visible in emerging fields such as unmanned aerial systems, where fast-changing commercial applications are creating demand for workers with both hardware and software skills.

From on-the-job training for students to a “Digital Skills Academy” for working professionals, skills development now covers the entire career cycle.

Shenzhen has also rolled out a range of supportive policies to give skilled workers dignity, opportunity and security. By the end of 2025, the city’s skilled talent pool had reached 4.15 million, with high-skilled workers accounting for 40.1% — both figures ranking among the highest in China. (Liu Minxia)