Through deepening reforms in the building of its industrial workforce, China 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 in 2024 by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. 

A team of women welding technicians has been working on the frontline of manufacturing at CRRC (China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation) Zhuzhou Rolling Stock Co., in Central China's Hunan Province, since it was established in 2000. The women work with diligence, persistence and great courage, and they hold up half the sky, especially when it comes to developing new welding techniques. 

The team's leader, Yi Ran, is a delegate to the 20th CPC National Congress, and a National Model Worker. She is also a National March 8th Red-Banner Holder, and a national-level master artisan. 

Yi says the women have followed the good examples set by the team's two previous leaders, Ou Qinglian and Yuan Hongjun. Ou, the team's first leader, has been named a National Model Worker. Yuan, the team's second leader, has been a recipient of the National May 1 Labor Medal. 

Yi, the team's third leader, says the women now shoulder greater responsibility. Why? During the ongoing industrial upgrade and high-quality development of the company, the women have been concentrating on the transition from manufacturing "heavy-load and high-speed" railway freight cars to manufacturing "green and smart" railway freight cars. 

In 2016, Yi led the team as the women conducted numerous welding trials until they raised the qualification rate — from around 30 percent to 95 percent — in flaw detection in certain railway fittings for export. 

In their efforts to upgrade techniques, the technicians must work very hard to fulfill their missions. Yi remembers the time when the team was responsible for manufacturing seven types of products. Four types of those products were for export, which required the women to put greater effort into trial manufacturing. 

"The women technicians of our team harness their strength to cope with various difficulties. We eventually finished the task, by manufacturing qualified products to meet the timeline as required. Although the workload was heavy, our women technicians were provided with the perfect stage to show their talents. Their willpower became stronger while they were working on the manufacturing frontline," Yi recalls. 

While they have explored and developed new techniques, Yi and her teammates have shown persistence and courage, and they have worked hard to achieve technological breakthroughs. 

In 2023, Yi led six women technicians, from the company's model worker innovation workshop, in an effort to improve the welding joints on freight cars. Specifically, the project was to improve manufacturing quality and efficiency. 

For this project, Yi's teammates worked together to complete four essays, which were published in provincial-level industry magazines. 

The team also applied for and received three patents, summarized and promoted seven newly developed operation approaches, and cultivated 30 skilled welding workers, who quickly adapted to market requirements. 

"By adhering to the hard-working spirit of our women welding technicians, passed down through several generations, the women technicians today are playing unique roles in the development of manufacturing, and they are making contributions to the enhancement of our country's manufacturing sector, and to the advancement of our company's innovation drive," Yi says. 

Coinciding with China's leap in digitalization, and in the development of smart technologies, especially within the manufacturing sector, CRRC is working nonstop to upgrade its techniques, especially those that feature smart manufacturing. Yi and the other women technicians are fulfilling their assigned mission: To boost development of "skills plus science and technology."

"For our team's members, specifically, we are making the transformation from operating welding guns to operating control devices, which give orders to robots, which will complete automatic welding tasks," Yi says. 

When discussing the transition from traditional welding to smart welding, Yi says it is important for women technicians to improve their abilities. By learning how to use AI, the women can participate in the cultivation and progress of new quality productive forces. In addition, by working as a team, they can achieve breakthroughs, especially in upgrading smart manufacturing techniques, to meet future needs. 

Yi is proud to share some of the fruitful results achieved by the company's model worker innovation workshop. "We have taken part in more than 100 trials, and, during the past 14 years, we have completed our company's welding-manufacturing tasks to meet international-certification standards. We have completed 94 technical-innovation tasks related to the manufacturing of heavy-load, high-speed railway freight cars," she explains. 

By organizing and/or attending training sessions, which cover discussions on welding skills, pre-competition training and promotion of new techniques, the women welding technicians at CRRC Zhuzhou Rolling Stock Co. are heightening the reputation of Made-in-China vehicles — throughout the world.

Photos from Interviewees

(Women of China English Monthly May 2025)

Editor: Wang Shasha