Local skills competition kicks off

THE Shanghai Skill Competition, themed on skills in the city’s “Four Brands” — services, manufacturing, shopping and culture — began yesterday.

The competition took place at four venues in Yangpu, Xuhui, Huangpu districts and the Pudong New Area. More than 1,100 entrants faced off in over 100 competition events.

At the Shanghai World Expo

Exhibition and Convention Center in Pudong, 371 players were competing for six championship spots in the manufacturing sector.

Officials of Pudong said they hope to promote craftsmanship among young people who attended the contests, as this skill is crucial in manufacturing.

Xu Aomen, who won the auto-body repair title at the 45th WorldSkills Competition earlier this year, made an appearance at the contest to share his experiences with contestants. He said attending the competition and winning a championship was the chance of a lifetime, but getting there wasn’t easy.

Chen Shenjie, a student from Shanghai Dianji University, told Shanghai Daily that he looks up to Xu and hopes to bring honor to China in 2021, when 46th WorldSkills Competition will be held in Shanghai.

During the contest, Chen made it to the final round of the mechanical components control contest.

Xu Dan, referee of the industrial robot programming contest, said they started at 8am. Fifteen players attended the contest. “The players must finish programming and debugging the robots and install mechanical arms on them within three hours. Many of the players started preparing for the games two months ago.”