Vocational skills competition set for Shanghai and Suzhou

Almost 240 contestants from 35 countries and regions will arrive in Shanghai and Suzhou next week to participate in an international vocational skills competition that will begin Tuesday.

Zhang Lixin, head of the Professional Capacity Building Department at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said 76 of the constants will be from China and there will be 173 referees, including 21 Chinese, for the competition that will be held in Shanghai and Suzhou city, Jiangsu province.

There will be 21 competition events that will last till June 9, including woodworking, mechatronics, mobile robot, hairdressing and baking. Fifteen of the events will be held in Shanghai, and the other six will be held in Suzhou.

All Chinese contestants will be graded for their performance, but only one will be ranked in each event, Zhang said.

There will be demonstrations of 27 vocational skills or technologies near the competition areas in Shanghai. Seven of the skills will feature traditional Chinese culture, including traditional flour-made food and paper-cutting. In Suzhou, there will be exhibitions of Chinese hair embroidery and woodcarvings.

On Tuesday, there also will be a seminar in Shanghai on skills and skills development. Zhang said almost 100 representatives from 28 countries and regions will participate in the seminar.

Shanghai is in the running with Switzerland to host the 2021 WorldSkills Competition.

The final decision will be voted on by WorldSkills International delegates in October 2017 at the general assembly that will be held in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.

The WorldSkills event was first held in Madrid, Spain in the 1950s. It seeks to increase the awareness and prestige of vocational and blue collar professions.