Tailored training fills talent gap

Guo Ying and Zhao Wanwei report on innovative vocational education.

After an 18-hour contest against 30 competitors from around the world, 21-year-old Hu Ping won the gold medal in fashion technology at the 44th WorldSkills Competition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She cut her cloth well within the stipulated time and perfectly matched a pattern.

Hu has been interested in handicrafts, especially making clothes, since she was a child. After graduating from junior middle school four years ago, she enrolled at the Beijing Industry and Trade Technician College to study costume design and production. She learned how to select fabrics for apparel, and techniques such as 3-D cropping, patternmaking and sewing production, paving the way for her success.