chapter of youth | "post-00s" at the top of the world's skills: the end of the story and a new starting point
2024-10-02
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two weeks have passed, and the scene of these "post-00s" contestants standing on the podium is still very clear, but from that moment on, their lives are turning a new page.
on the evening of september 15th local time, the 47th world skills competition (hereinafter referred to as the "world championship") held in lyon, france came to an end. under the fireworks, young faces were draped with the five-star red flag and a touch of gold on their chests, winning applause from the world. the cool night breeze in lyon blew through the hot stadium, and the biennial world championship once again came to the end of the story. tonight, the chinese delegation received 36 gold medals, 9 silver medals, 4 bronze medals and 8 winning awards. for players who can only participate in the world championship once in their lifetime, the moment they reach the top of the world's skills, their competition career seems to have come to a farewell end.
it once took them five years, or more, to climb the mountain in a somewhat ignorant way and work their way to the top of the mountain. there are too many "not easy" stories written about it: some people came out of rural areas in guizhou, some were addicted to online games, and some only came into contact with the skills they learned later because they missed their first choice.
god rewards hard work, and now they are the most "capable" post-00s generation in the world in their respective fields. with the "gold-plating" of skills, the youth of these "post-00s" will continue to be hot and continue to explore more possibilities.
lu junwei and xie huixuan on the podium worldskills competition official website picture
surprise
not long after they got off the gold medal podium, industry 4.0 project contestants xie huixuan and lu junwei were once again called out by the host of the closing ceremony. this time they want to win the albert vidal award - which represents the highest score among contestants in all events and is known as the "gold among gold medals."
at that moment, they stood in the center of the entire stadium, with the best players from all participating countries behind them. cheers poured in from all directions, and there were chinese spectators in the auditorium waving their national flags vigorously. "i never thought about it at all. i am very surprised and unexpected." xie huixuan said, a little confused but very excited. even now, when he recalls that moment, he still has a hazy feeling of being hit by an accident.
lu junwei and xie huixuan during the game. photo by the paper reporter jiang lelai
this is the second time that a chinese player has won this honor at the world championships, and it is an "unprecedented" for a shanghai player. almost no one had imagined this result. what is even more dramatic is that this is the first time that chinese players have participated in an industry 4.0 project competition. during the preparation and competition process, xie huixuan and lu junwei have been in a situation where they do not know their own level or the level of their opponents.
perhaps the surprise was too unexpected, but the two of them acted very low-key while standing at the "highest place", with a slightly reserved smile. li minzhou, dean of shanghai kechuang vocational and technical college, watched them get there step by step. in his eyes, that is the "technical temperament" in them, which is calm enough.
the schedule of the world championships lasts for 3-4 days, and there are infinite unknowns hidden there. every shanghai player who won the gold medal felt that the gold medal was a surprise and a "lucky fruit" above the goal of winning the medal.
picture of zhou yuxin during the game with the paper reporter jiang lelai
"real or fake?" this was the first reaction of zhou yuxin, the gold medalist in the logistics and freight forwarding project, when she learned the result. on the first day of the competition, the completely different question types from previous competitions gave all the contestants a disincentive. zhou yuxin also did not adapt well and performed poorly.
"in the past, we were probably equivalent to front-line employees. every position involved in the entire logistics chain had to go through it and formulate questions in this form. now i am more like a superior leader, who has to integrate many specific tasks into reports and present high-level reports. it’s very different to look at this project and this industry from a different perspective.” as for the changes in test questions, zhou yuxin also gradually figured out the way through the daily review and encouragement from expert coaches as the competition progressed.
photo provided by interviewee zhou yuxin and players from other countries on the podium
"change" seems to be the main theme of this year's world championships. many events have changed from the previous method of announcing the competition questions in advance for players to prepare, and have become what expert coaches and players call "opening the blind box." as early as when the game was still going on, an expert team told reporters that every day was one "surprise" after another.
photo provided by zhu junfeng during the competition.
zhu junfeng helped shanghai achieve "three consecutive championships" in the body repair project, but this gold medal is also full of suspense. the test questions are announced on the spot, the car body structure is not known in advance, you are not allowed to bring your own tools, and the repair station uses new technology... every change will make the "three consecutive championships" goal in zhu junfeng's mind heavier. this kind of the underlying pressure is always on the shoulders of the entire team. zhu junfeng said frankly: "it is abnormal not to think about it. if you want to get good results, you must keep the pressure in mind."
the "surprises" on the field eventually turned into "surprises" on the podium. zhu junfeng said that he has been relatively lucky along the way, but since he first joined the shanghai training team in 2019 and took notes next to the gold medal seniors of the 45th world championships, his story began to be written, and luck is obviously not the best team. a pen with rich ink and color.
the highest prize in the game or the "three consecutive championships" is the outcome of these "post-00s" after a long "battle". the road ahead for five years or even longer is not that easy.
origin
apart from the hard work, what’s the hard part about the skills competition? zhou yuxin said: "actually, it seems to be hard work, but this 'hard work' cannot be summed up in two words."
the layer-by-layer selection of players is a cruel process. some people missed the opportunity due to unintentional mistakes, while others could not bear the psychological pressure and missed the world championship stage. on the road of skills, each player has a different starting point, but along the way they all shoulder their own burdens and welcome their own growth.
zhu junfeng was born in 2002 and grew up in a rural area in zunyi, guizhou. his parents worked outside all year round, and he has been living with his grandparents. when he was a child, his family's financial situation was not good. if zhu junfeng liked toy cars, he had to make them by himself. the simple wooden toys seemed to have become a prophecy from then on.
in his memory, his father only came home once or twice a year. after junior high school, the image of his father gradually became clear. after passing the high school entrance examination, the tuition fees at pugao became an obstacle, so zhu junfeng followed his father's advice and entered a vocational school to study auto repair. at that time, he had no idea about the future, but now it seems that this was an extremely correct decision. zhu junfeng came to shanghai in 2018. with his excellent academic performance, he entered the shanghai training team of the body repair project the following year.
since then, he has become a "talented player" in the eyes of the coach and has also seen the success of his seniors on the world stage. zhu junfeng began to see another path for himself. since childhood, his grandparents had hoped that he could get into a good university and find a good job. there was no chance of going to college, so he tried his best to prove that there was a good way out without going to college. aiming at the world championship stage, the thought of "proving himself" has given him a lot of energy, from the expectations of his elders to the expectation of "three consecutive championships".
hard training is a daily routine, sawing, welding, grinding, gluing... the boring and hard work in the operation room can last from 7:30 in the morning to 10 in the evening. in addition to sweat, zhu junfeng also saw his own growth in mentality. one month before the world championships, he began to take the initiative to establish communication with the coach and solve problems together. in the past, he always tended to solve problems by himself and did not want to trouble others. now he feels that the change is that he trusts the team around him more, and he does not want to leave any regrets in his last game.
now that he has returned with great honors, zhu junfeng no longer has anything to prove. when asked what the gold medal meant the most to him, his answer was inner satisfaction. for this young man who came out of rural guizhou, the "energy" that accompanied his growth has finally come to fruition, which may be more meaningful than anything else.
among the two partner players in the industry 4.0 project, xie huixuan is the one who focuses more on computer operations in terms of division of labor. when he was a child, he also had his own "wooden toy car" - a computer game.
before the third grade of junior high school, xie huixuan once spent 2/3 of his time on games every day, addicted to the virtual world. fortunately, this interest did not become a burden in the end. instead, it stimulated his interest in the internal principles of the program, and he began to study in a targeted manner in the third grade of junior high school. the game then faded out of his life.
xie huixuan's choice was also very straightforward. since he was not interested in cultural courses, he would concentrate on learning a technology that interested him. at that time, there was no world championship in his sights. until he officially formed a team with lu junwei in 2021 to start training for the industry 4.0 project, more than ten hours of high-intensity training every day was "commonplace", and entertainment had long been forgotten.
zhou yuxin's skill path seems a bit "unintentional". in 2019, she was initially selected by "bole" to participate in the logistics and freight forwarding project competition. at that time, she was more favored because of her english ability. she studied customs and foreign trade services because she missed out on early childhood education, which was her first choice. furthermore, since entering a secondary vocational college, zhou yuxin has been determined to complete the "junior college to bachelor's degree". in her eyes, she has always been an undergraduate, and skills competitions are a way to achieve her goals.
in the past five years, zhou yuxin has traveled to campuses, companies, and training bases across the country, and has thoroughly understood all processes in the entire logistics chain. in the view of the coaching team, she was born in 2003 and is already a experienced "veteran". in 2023, zhou yuxin, who was selected for the shanghai training team, also successfully passed the junior college upgrade and became an undergraduate student at shanghai second polytechnic university.
her choice is also an answer. skills and academic qualifications do not have to be naturally contradictory. perhaps complementing each other is a better result.
photo of the paper reporter jiang lelai at the closing ceremony of the 47th world championships
period
after the closing ceremony, the french organizers held a farewell party not far away. champagne, bands, dancing, athletes and expert coaches from all over the world wearing various uniforms, getting very close to the restless music.
there is no country or rival in the farewell atmosphere. the carnival at the end is only about friends and release. according to regulations, contestants can only participate in one worldskills competition. for these young people, when the game comes to an end, it is also the end of a journey.
zhou yuxin always remembers that beside the podium, the brazilian player who won the bronze medal shed tears after chatting for a few words. from the closing ceremony to the auditorium, there are countless such emotional moments. "it's very rewarding to feel the happiness of others." for zhou yuxin, the all-english competition brings together contestants from non-native english-speaking countries, and everyone can encourage each other on the field. we will also chat off the field.
it was a group of like-minded young people with the same goals, the same majors and similar perspectives on problems. for her, the world championships means more than just a "race".
sitting on the plane leaving france, zhou yuxin felt a little lonely. "everything is over, really very fast." this kind of speed is not only for the trip to france, but also for her long journey to the world championships. when she looked back, she thought of the city competition, the national competition, and the world competition. she felt that everything passed by so fast like a slide show. "it obviously took a long time to train," zhou yuxin said, and she felt like saying goodbye to the world competition. , new players will come out soon, and they are already history on the wall.
in 2026, the 48th world championships will be held in shanghai. in order to welcome the competition at home, shanghai echelon players in many sports are already in place and starting intensive preparations. xie huixuan, lu junwei and zhu junfeng may compete in the world championship for a longer period of time. within two days after returning to shanghai, they have transformed from players to coaches and are engaged in preparations for the next world championship.
almost like being a player, zhu junfeng goes to the training room at 8 o'clock every day to guide the training of players preparing for the next competition. xie huixuan and lu junwei are still in the process of adapting to the change in roles. treating themselves as coaches to communicate with players is a lesson they need to learn now. in the future, xie huixuan also hopes that he can continue to stay in school and continue to pass on what he has learned in the field of skills competitions. while coaching the contestants, zhu junfeng joined saic to participate in new car trial production and other related work, and continued to improve himself within the company.
zhou yuxin is a senior this year and will graduate next year. looking forward to the future, she hopes to work in logistics and freight-related work in a large enterprise, and may also try to study for graduate school. if possible, she even hopes to do both in parallel. from associate to bachelor degree to graduate school, zhou yuxin is not obsessed with academic qualifications per se, but she believes that it will allow her to see more of a different world.
the same is true for the world championships. the competition itself is not a goal but a process. zhou yuxin believes that the changes brought about by the road of skills will be more reflected in future life. she hopes to be like her training teacher and expert team leader, who has accumulated experience in the company and has a deep understanding of the industry before she considers participating in the training of players.
"a node in life has been successfully completed and it is time to move to the next peak." zhou yuxin said.
bailang design
(project funded by the china internet development foundation’s china positive energy network communication special fund)
(source: the paper)
