A worker checks product quality at a casting company in Botou, north China's Hebei Province, Sept. 24, 2025. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

A first group of 200 highly skilled professionals were awarded the title of "National-level Master Artisans" after more than a year of cultivation at the recently concluded Third Innovation Exchange Conference for Craftsmen of the Nation, CCTV News reported on Saturday. 

The "National-level Master Artisans" represent the outstanding figures among highly skilled professionals. As the first group of domestically cultivated master artisans has been released, China continues to expand its highly skilled workforce to strengthen the "skills foundation" for high-quality economic and social development, said the report. 

Peng Fei, a newly awarded master artisan, vowed to further help enterprises solve problems from algorithm innovation to product implementation and integrate AI with industry needs to enhance the efficiency of traditional industries by using her skills.

Since the beginning of this year, regions across China have accelerated the cultivation of highly skilled professionals.

South China's Guangdong has built 171 "skills eco-chains" integrating industry, teaching, and evaluation covering key sectors such as advanced manufacturing, modern services, and digital skills. Foshan Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of Foshan in Guangdong has jointly set up a training program with a robotics company, where corporate mentors and industry experts guide trainees throughout the course to help them enhance professional literacy and practical ability in the field of industrial robotics, according to the report. 

In Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the first round of senior engineer evaluations in digital technology has been carried out, guiding more talent to focus and deepen in digital fields. In Shanghai, efforts have centered on key industries, with a 30 percent increase in vocational skill subsidy standards for workers in 17 occupations such as AI trainers, elderly caregivers, and domestic service providers, the report noted. 

AI trainer Kong Lingkai, an awarded master artisan, said that he obtained senior AI trainer certificate and also received a government subsidy, which is a great encouragement.

China is now home to over 80 million professional and technical personnel, and more than 220 million skilled workers in total, among whom over 72 million are highly skilled professionals, the report said.

Through deepening reforms in the building of its industrial workforce, the country aims to foster approximately 2,000 national-level master artisans, 10,000 provincial-level master artisans and 50,000 city-level master artisans who are highly knowledgeable and have high levels of technical and innovative skills by 2035, according to a set of guidelines issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Global Times