With the 48th WorldSkills Competition underway in Shanghai from Sept 22 to 27, Chen Hailiang, a national-level skills master and senior catering operations manager at Metro, serves as technical support lead for the cooking skill competition, helping bring Chinese flavors to the world stage.

Chen has worked at four consecutive WorldSkills editions. At the 45th event in Kazan, Russia, in 2019, China's cooking entry won bronze, its first podium finish. At the 47th edition in Lyon, France, in 2024, a Chinese competitor took gold, the country's first. "The gold shows that Chinese cooking has reached the world's top level," Chen said.

Chen entered a vocational school to study cooking in 1995 and joined Metro in 2006, setting up a culinary academy and 14 regional academies. To prepare for the 48th WorldSkills Competition, he began scouting talent nationwide two years ago. A total of 10 cooks were selected for training, and one was ultimately chosen to compete.

In his new role, Chen led the recommendation of 30 ingredients representative of Chinese cuisine to WorldSkills International, all of which passed the selection process.

Chen now runs a studio that has developed nearly 6,000 recipes and trained about 1,400 senior workers, 593 technicians, and 112 senior technicians. He said craftsmanship means doing simple things repeatedly to gain experience.

Source: Official WeChat account of Shanghai Putuo Media Center