高技能人才齐聚豫园展风采 - 2022年02月25日

A dozen of Shanghai's top handicraft masters showcased their heritage skills at Yuyuan Garden Malls on Thursday to promote the WorldSkills Competition, scheduled later this year, among the public.

Shanghai will host the pandemic-delayed 46th WorldSkills Competition on October 12-17. More than 1,400 competitors from 60-plus countries and regions will participate in the event and compete in over 60 categories. The competition is held every two years.

Inheritors of the city's listed "intangible cultural heritages" displayed their handmade artworks and dim sums and talked with residents and tourists visiting the popular landmark in downtown Huangpu District.

The event is part of the "talent week" initiated by Huangpu District Human Resources and Social security Bureau to attract and train additional high-end professionals, both from home and abroad.

The heritage skills, mainly from Shanghai's time-honored brands, include the delicate jewelry making of Laofengxiang, ink-stick making of Cao Sugong, dim sum making of Lu Bo Lang Restaurant and traditional Chinese medicine making of Tonghanchun TCM pharmacy.

Li Meili, inheritor of a traditional Shanghai wool-knitting technique, displayed the bouquet she made for winning athletes of Beijing 2022. She led a team of senior artisans to make a total of 800 such bouquets for the Winter Olympics and another 500 for the Winter Paralympic Games. It took 35 hours for each of the bouquets.

"I have to make every product perfect, because it is such a good opportunity to showcase the heritage skill on the global stage," Li said.

Her colleague Li Qiang, also from Shanghai Hengyuanxiang Group, knitted the logo of the Beijing Winter Games on site.

A wool painting knitted by Li, who has been doing wool-knitting for five decades, was displayed at the National Aquatics Center, now known as the Ice Cube, during the Winter Games.

"I have focused on only one thing, wool-knitting, during my entire life," Li told visitors at the exhibition.

Feng Yuqi, a young dim sum chef at the nearby Lu Bo Lang Restaurant, makes a set of pastries once served to national leaders attending the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia in 2014.

The "jade walnut" symbolizing "harmony and happiness" due to the Chinese pronunciation of walnut; the "longevity peach," a traditional snack for birthdays of the elderly with new fillings of red date, pine nut and salted egg yolk; and the persimmon with peanut and dried tangerine peel creating a slightly sour and fresh smell for autumn.

"I feel my job has become more meaningful in recent years because each set of dim sum I made for foreign dignitaries represents the country's image," Feng, 33, said.