The program "Luban Workshop" has become a flagship brand of Chinese vocational education with great influence in the world. 

Initiated by Tianjin, it is designed to offer high-end technical skills training that can help college students meet requirements of the emerging global market.

Vocational colleges in Tianjin, Shenzhen and Jinan of Shandong province are playing a leading role in proceeding with the program. They have shared their experience in facilitating Chinese vocational education's results to go global, with an eye on promoting people-to-people bonds among different countries. 

Wang Lin, a teacher from Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College, said that he was delighted to learn that Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov noted the Luban workshops while they were attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games from Feb 5 to 6.

Till now, Wang has still remembered an anecdote, which happened in July 2018 when he was put in charge of the Luban Workshop at the Ayutthaya Technical College in Thailand.

In response to a question about whether Lu Ban would come to the Thailand Luban Workshop upon its completion, Wang explained to his Thai counterpart that Lu lived during the late Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the early Warring States Period (475-221 BC) and he was famous for creating numerous carpentry and agricultural tools, as well as traditional architecture and military machinery, and is thus revered as China's master craftsman.

Apart from inventing many practical tools such as carriage axles, wooden birds and scaling ladders, Lu was also reputed for his achievements in the disciplines of geometry, mechanics and optics. The craftsmanship spirit of Lu Ban is not only a treasure in traditional Chinese culture, but also a cultural engine to facilitate the transformation of China from a major manufacturing country to a great manufacturing country.

At the opening ceremony of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, it was announced that Luban Workshops would be set up in Africa to provide vocational skills training for young Africans.

True to these words, China has helped establish the workshops in Kenya, Djibouti, South Africa, Mali, Egypt, Nigeria, Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire and Ethiopia, among other countries.

As a national demonstration area for reform of modern vocational education, Tianjin will work hard to ensure the completion of 10 Luban workshops in Africa amid COVID-19 pressures. 

Up to now, Tianjin has opened 20 Luban workshops in 19 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe to promote the overseas growth of vocational education with Chinese characteristics.