Shanghai is hosting the 48th WorldSkills Competition, where young people from around the world are demonstrating that trade and vocational skills are not just about manual work, but about innovation, problem-solving, and a clear path to a future career.
The competition runs from Tuesday to Sunday in Shanghai, with 1,385 competitors from 68 countries and regions vying in 64 skill events.
Held every two years, the WorldSkills Competition is widely regarded as the world's leading vocational skills competition.
The event features competitions ranging from welding and baking to robotics.
China has more than 220 million skilled workers, including over 72 million highly skilled professionals. And as industries become smarter and more technologically advanced, that combination of knowledge and hands-on ability is becoming even more valuable.
"For vocational training, we first need to establish in the Chinese mainland also in Hong Kong a skill level to be commensurate with those career positions. Second, we really need to have a position for the young guys to understand that they do not have any bachelor degree, but they have a vocational skill. After they got this kind of certification of professional skill and also gain experience, they can escalate step by step in the category they are, up to a very senior position," said Ir Cheng Ting-ning, Executive Director of Hong Kong Construction Industry Council.
In China, vocational schools are a major source of new frontline workers in modern manufacturing and services. The challenge is to connect training more closely with real jobs, and give young people opportunities to keep learning as those jobs change.
The old boundary between "engineer" and "technician" is becoming less clear. A first-class technician increasingly needs the mind of an engineer. They are about turning an idea on paper into something that actually works -- translating theory into practice, and design into a real product.
48th WorldSkills Competition highlights skilled trades as future of innovation
People-to-people exchanges between China and the United States can make a significant contribution to mutual understanding, said a former U.S. diplomat, noting that there is a lot of room for subnational engagement between the two countries.
While attending a welcome ceremony held by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday morning, President Xi Jinping pledged to invite 100,000 young Americans to visit China for exchanges and study over the next five years.
During an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), David Firestein, president and CEO of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations and a former diplomat, lauded President Xi's invitation, calling for more such exchanges in both directions.
"As the Chinese saying goes, hearing 100 times is not as good as seeing once. And I think it's really important that people have the opportunity to see for themselves what's happening, by the way, in both directions. But the work that China has done to catalyze and facilitate greater numbers of young Americans getting to China, I think, is laudable. And I think it's a significant contribution to mutual understanding and certainly to U.S. understanding of China. And by the same token, the Chinese in China who interact with those Americans no doubt learn quite a bit about the United States as well. So that's very positive. I think we need to do a lot more of that in both directions," Firestein said.
Beyond exchanges at national level, the expert stressed that there is more room for subnational engagement between China and the United States.
"It's not just the federal government in the United States or the central government in China that is involved in facilitating or catalyzing these exchanges. But just as you've said, it's cities, it's states, it's universities, non-profits, individual actors, there's a lot of room for what we might call subnational engagement, and it takes everyone kind of rowing in the same direction, to use that metaphor, to really make a difference and to have an impact when you're dealing with countries of this scale," Firestein said.
He said that there are signs of changing attitudes in the United States, as more people come to see that their country must take a "more pragmatic and results-oriented" approach to China.
"I do think that we are starting to see a change in the mindset in the United States. I think people are starting to realize we need to be more pragmatic and results-oriented in dealing with China because provocative, politicized, incendiary rhetoric isn't solving anybody's problems. And ultimately, the bottom line metric is solving problems and making people's lives better. I think we're starting to see a bit of a shift and a bit of a rethink in the United States, and I think that's healthy, and it'll be very interesting to see how that unfolds," said Firestein.
China-US people-to-people exchanges contribute to mutual understanding: former diplomat
