Bai Ting works on power lines. (Chinanews.com/Li Dexiu)

Soon after Bai Ting began working in hotline maintenance on the Qinghai Plateau, her colleagues nicknamed her the live-line working "Mulan." She is the first female employee in 10 years to obtain a qualification to work on a distribution network in Qinghai.

Bai Ting works on power lines. (Chinanews.com/Li Dexiu)

Bai Ting was previously a demobilized soldier. In 2013, she joined the State Grid Qinghai Huanghua Power Supply Company as a member of office staff.

"My colleagues went out to work and always came back discussing innovative projects and live working skills. At that time, I was unable to join in the conversation," Bai said. Her first step was to learn about the different tools, such as the insulating clamp and gorilla gripper. "I drove my colleagues crazy, as I kept asking them what each of the different tools was used for.”

Live working is the maintenance of electrical equipment, often operating at high voltage, while the equipment is still energized. In Qinghai, the work is predominantly carried out by male employees due to the region's altitude, and the high workload and risk of the job.

One day, Bai inadvertently heard that their group was short of hands, so she offered to help. Shortly after, Bai went through the process of obtaining all the necessary qualifications. A year later, she became the first female employee in Qinghai to become a certified electrician for a distribution network.

Photo shows the clamp that Bai designed. (Chinanews.com/Wang Juan)

"I've always been eager to work when given the opportunity," Bai said. However, working at such a high altitude is not always an easy task. Bai still remembers the first time she worked at such a height, "When the bucket truck moved up and down, I was so scared that I could only take a deep breath, keep my eyes closed, and hold on to the edge of the truck. When I touched the wire, I couldn't help screaming because it felt like hundreds of needles were stabbing the palm of my hand."

Bai and her crew do preparation before working on power lines. (Chinanews.com/Wang Juan)

Since then, Bai vowed to face difficulties head-on and overcome any mental barriers that stood in her way. After working in the job role for a while, Bai found that the clamps used to connect the main cable and the bypass jumper were incredibly heavy, which meant that the bypass jumper fell off easily during operation, so Bai decided to improve the clamp's design. After many sleepless nights, and with the help of her colleagues, Bai finally designed a new clamp successfully.

"Our team has not only used the newly designed clamps, but we are also applying for an invention patent for them," Bai said.