WorldSkills Shanghai names six new Dream Ambassadors

WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 named six second-cohort Dream Ambassadors on World Youth Skills Day, adding new role models from aerospace, software, hospitality, floristry and service trades. The move is meant to promote craftsmanship and steer more young people toward skills-based careers ahead of the competition in Shanghai.

Why it matters: - WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 is using high-profile competitors and craftsmen to push a broader message: skilled trades can lead to national recognition, career mobility and global competition success. - The campaign comes as China looks to fill rising demand for technical talent tied to industrial digital transformation, manufacturing upgrades and better modern services. - The new ambassadors are meant to influence young people at a moment when skills-based careers are being framed as a path to future opportunity.

What happened: - On 15 July, World Youth Skills Day, the WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 Executive Bureau announced six new Dream Ambassadors. - The second cohort includes Wang Shuqun, Liu Xinru, Cao Jiahao, Zhu Lixuan, Yang Lingzhi and Wu Jiani. - The new group follows the first 10 Dream Ambassadors unveiled at last September's WorldSkills Shanghai one-year countdown event. - The six ambassadors represent aerospace assembly, digital software, floristry, pâtisserie and confectionery, hotel reception, and restaurant service.

The details: - Wang Shuqun is a senior aerospace technician and head of the manned space docking mechanism assembly team at Plant 149 of the 8th Academy at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. - Wang Shuqun helped overcome technical hurdles in space docking over 16 years of work and contributed to China's first-ever “space kiss,” the rendezvous and docking between Shenzhou-8 and Tiangong-1 in 2011. - Wang Shuqun also won the China Skills Award and the second-class prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Awards. - Liu Xinru, a teacher at Suzhou Wuzhong Technician College, won Team China's first gold medal in Pâtisserie and Confectionery at the 47th WorldSkills Competition. - Liu Xinru was invited to share her story at the State Council Information Office of China and appeared on the 2026 CCTV Spring Festival Gala. - Cao Jiahao, a teacher at Suzhou Technician College, won gold in Software Applications Development at the 47th WorldSkills Competition, giving China its first gold in that category. - Zhu Lixuan, a teacher at Shanghai Information Management School, won a Medallion for Excellence in Hotel Reception at the 47th WorldSkills Competition. - Zhu Lixuan scored the highest in East Asia and earned China’s first medal in Hotel Reception. - Zhu Lixuan has also gone to border regions in Yunnan Province to deliver skills training. - Yang Lingzhi, a teacher at Shanghai Vocational College of Agriculture and Forestry, grew up in Guizhou Province and pursued floristry after developing a passion for plants. - Yang Lingzhi won a Medallion for Excellence in Floristry at the WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition. - Wu Jiani is a purser at China Eastern Airlines and heads a skill master studio. - Wu Jiani won a Medallion for Excellence in Restaurant Service at the 45th WorldSkills Competition and posted the best-ever result for a Chinese competitor in that category.

Between the lines: - The ambassador lineup mixes competition winners, teachers and working professionals, which signals an effort to make skills feel both aspirational and practical. - Shanghai is positioning WorldSkills 2026 as more than an event. It is being framed as a platform for talent-building and public messaging about craftsmanship. - The “Master Skills Change Your Future” theme is doing a lot of work here. It links individual success stories to national economic priorities and youth recruitment.

What's next: - WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 will keep building its ambassador program as the event approaches. - The new Dream Ambassadors are expected to promote skills-based careers and help inspire more young people to train in technical and service fields. - Wang Shuqun said WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 is an invitation to the world and called on participants to “ignite the spark of skills” in Shanghai. - Wu Jiani said skills are not a “second-best” option and urged young people to gather in Shanghai and write their own legends on the WorldSkills stage.