Foreign delegations arrive in Shanghai ahead of 48th WorldSkills Competition

Multiple foreign delegations have been arriving in Shanghai in recent days ahead of the 48th WorldSkills Competition, where more than 6,000 participants from 70 countries and regions are expected to compete in the largest edition in the event's history.

The WorldSkills Competition is a premier biennial international event that brings together young professionals from around the world to compete in a wide range of vocational and technical skills.

This year's edition will run from September 22 to 27, with over 1,400 competitors vying in 64 skills across six sectors, according to the organizers.

Among the arrivals was the Austrian delegation, which landed at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Thursday morning. The team will compete in multiple categories, including baking, beauty therapy, cooking, automotive technology and mechatronics.

"Our team is about 50 competitors and 50 experts. I am participating in automobile technology. And my goal is to achieve the gold medal," said a member with the Austrian delegation.

"And I'm in [the competition of] retail sales. And I'm curious [about] what I'm going to make," said another Austrian competitor.

With more delegations set to arrive in the coming days, special channels have been reserved for competition participants at Shanghai's two international airports, Pudong and Hongqiao, to ensure smooth and safe clearance.

The two airports have handled an average of 59,000 inbound passengers a day so far this month, up 6.6 percent year on year, according to Shanghai Customs.

Multiple technology-based measures have also been rolled out to make baggage screening both faster and more accurate.

"We are using technological measures, such as advance machine screening and CT-based intelligent image review, to conduct full pre-screening of all checked baggage and smart inspection of carry-on luggage. It will significantly improve inspection accuracy, while minimizing disruption to travelers as much as possible," said Zhang Guanyu, a customs officer with the Hongqiao Airport Customs, a division of Shanghai Customs.

Foreign delegations arrive in Shanghai ahead of 48th WorldSkills Competition

China's general public budget revenue reached 15.66 trillion yuan (around 2.33 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of 2026, up 5.7 percent year on year, according to data released by the Ministry of Finance on Friday. The central general public budget revenue increased 9.1 percent year on year to 7.0118 trillion yuan, while the local general public budget revenue increased 3.1 percent year on year to 8.6515 trillion yuan.

Tax revenue climbed 6.6 percent year on year to 12.91 trillion yuan in the period.

Domestic value-added tax rose 5.9 percent, driven by continuous growth in the industrial and service sectors and an upward trend in factory-gate prices, while corporate income tax grew 7.3 percent on the back of rapid profit growth. Meanwhile, value-added tax and consumption tax on imported goods increased 12.6 percent, driven by rapid import growth.

A total of 1.65 trillion yuan was refunded for value-added tax and consumption tax on exported goods, an increase of 70.7 billion yuan compared with the same period last year. By region, the revenues of eastern, central, western and northeastern regions increased 3.2 percent, 1.4 percent, 4.6 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

From January to August this year, China's national general public budget expenditure reached 18.15 trillion yuan, up 1.2 percent year on year. Expenditures on public well-being grew rapidly in the eight-month period, with social security and employment spending rising 6.5 percent and health care outlays increasing 9.2 percent.

China's general public budget revenue up 5.7 pct in first eight months