China Forms Delegation for WorldSkills Shanghai 2026

China has officially established its delegation for the 48th WorldSkills Competition, which will be held in Shanghai from September 22 to 27, according to Xinhua News. Approved by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the 220-member delegation includes 71 competitors who will participate in all 64 competition events.

The competitors hail from 21 provinces across China, comprising 49 students and 22 working professionals. With an average age of just 21, the team’s youngest member is 18 and the oldest is 25. The delegation also includes 71 backup competitors, bringing the full competitive roster to 142 athletes.

A Historic Milestone for Chinese Skills

This marks China’s eighth participation in the WorldSkills Competition and the third time the country will field competitors in every single event category. Since joining the WorldSkills organization in 2010, China has participated in seven previous competitions, amassing an impressive record of 93 gold, 41 silver, and 28 bronze medals, along with 71 merit awards. China has ranked first in both gold medals and overall team scores for four consecutive competitions.

In the 47th WorldSkills Competition held in Lyon, France in September 2024, the Chinese delegation secured 36 gold, 9 silver, and 4 bronze medals, topping both the gold medal and overall medal standings. The Southern Metropolis Daily reported that among the 71 primary competitors, four athletes from Shenzhen will represent China in industrial design technology, graphic design technology, jewelry processing, and restaurant service events.

Record-Scale Event in Shanghai

The 48th WorldSkills Competition is expected to be the largest in the event’s history, with nearly 70 countries and regions sending approximately 1,400 competitors to Shanghai. The competition will feature 64 events across six major fields: manufacturing, transportation, construction, information technology, creativity, and services. Seven new events have been added this year, including rail vehicle technology, drone systems, smart security technology, software testing, and digital interactive media design, reflecting emerging skills trends and new productive forces.

The event will take place at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC) Shanghai, the world’s largest convention center, located in the core area of the city’s Hongqiao Business District. The venue’s distinctive four-leaf clover design spans 1.47 million square meters, with 12 halls covering approximately 360,000 square meters dedicated to the competition.

Cultural Design Elements in Team Uniforms

The delegation’s award ceremony and competition uniforms have been officially released, drawing design inspiration from traditional Chinese mortise-and-tenon (sunmao) structures—a thousand-year-old construction technique that achieves stability through precise interlocking without nails or rivets. As Beijing Time reported, the award ceremony uniform features a red and white color scheme with the national emblem, while the competition uniform uses a lake blue palette with geometric patterns inspired by mortise-and-tenon structures. Fujian Septwolves Industrial Co., Ltd. designed the award ceremony uniforms, while Xtep (China) Co., Ltd. designed the competition uniforms.

Shanghai’s Skills Ecosystem

Shanghai, hosting the event for the first time, has been building a comprehensive skills talent development system. According to the WorldSkills 2026 official website, the city now has over 4 million skilled workers, accounting for nearly 39 percent of its workforce, with highly skilled workers comprising more than 35 percent of that total. In 2025, Shanghai conducted 725,900 subsidized vocational skills training sessions, exceeding its target of 650,000, and added 71,700 highly skilled workers.

Yang Jiaying, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and Executive Deputy Director of the Shanghai WorldSkills 2026 Executive Bureau, said the city looks forward to presenting a “novel and far-reaching” skills feast to the world and enhancing China’s voice and influence in the global skills field.

Global Momentum Building

WorldSkills President Francis Hourant, speaking after the Competition Preparation Week held in Shanghai in February, said the momentum for WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 is growing very quickly. As reported by WorldSkills International, over 400 delegates from more than 70 countries and regions gathered in Shanghai to advance the operational framework for the event.

“We accomplished a lot,” Hourant said. “But we know that the entire WorldSkills community will continue to invest their time and expertise to ensure that when the eyes of the world are on us in September, WorldSkills will be ready.”

What to Watch For

With the competition just under a month away, all eyes turn to Shanghai as the city prepares to welcome the global skills community. The event will not only showcase the world’s best young talent in vocational skills but also serve as a platform for China to demonstrate its growing expertise in skills development and vocational education. The delegation’s official statement emphasized that all members will strictly abide by competition discipline, compete fairly and civilly, and comprehensively display the exquisite skills and good demeanor of China’s new-era skilled youth.

As the first Chinese city to host this prestigious event, Shanghai’s successful execution of the 48th WorldSkills Competition could have lasting implications for how vocational skills are valued and developed across the region, potentially inspiring a new generation of skilled workers throughout Asia and beyond.