Illustration: Liu Xidan/GT

When talking about world champions, the first thing that comes to people's minds is usually athletes. But can you imagine a blue-collar worker can also win a world championship? On the Sunday-concluded WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition, also hailed as "Skills Olympics," in Austria, Chinese competitor Jiang Xinhua won the gold medal in heavy vehicle technology that focuses on repairing and maintaining large machines. This is the first that Team China has ended up in first place in such a skill area in any WorldSkills Competition. Not long ago, 22-year-old Ma Hongda from China won first place in the competition of plastering flat surfaces in the same game. The victory of these two young Chinese workers proves that the quality of talent trained by Chinese vocational education is improving by leaps and bounds, and many can reach a world class level. Such achievements are inseparable from the country's efforts to promote the development of vocational education. It is hoped that the story of the heavy vehicle repairer and plasterer can help more and more Chinese people change their perceptions about blue-collar workers as "indecent" or "unpromising" professions. As an old Chinese saying goes, "Every trade has its master." Now, it's time for blue-collar workers to shine and earn their due respect.