At the age of 17, she was still a country girl working in a factory; at the age of 21, she stepped onto the world stage to win honor for China. This woman’s name is Luo Liping from Guangdong.

At the 45th WorldSkills Competition in August 2019, representing the Chinese team Luo won the silver medal in the "commodity display technology project,” breaking the long-standing monopoly of European countries.

What is "commodity display technology?” To put it simply, it's a window display.

To master the skill of window display, one has to be familiar with more than 100 kinds of materials and tools, has an understanding of graphic design, display design, space design, marketing and other professional knowledge. In addition, there are also many skills that cannot be noticed by the naked eye.

Luo has endured many hardships before winning the international competition, but now she only gently mentions these in one sentence: "At that time, I often stayed up late and my hair fell out in large quantities!"

When Luo was working in the factory after graduating from high school, she met all kinds of people and realized early that life was not easy.

After hearing from one of her friends that children with a rural household registration can attend a technical school for free, Luo thought: the opportunity has come! At the age of 18, she entered school again, and three years later she stood on a podium at the WorldSkills Competition.

Luo competes at the WorldSkills Competition (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Now, great changes have taken place in her life. Not only has her personal life improved, but her little sister's tuition is now covered, and her originally poor family has been lifted out of poverty.

After winning glory for her country at the World Skills Competition, various "olive branches" have been offered to her, but she chose to stay in her school and become a coach.

"My family feels that this choice is more stable, and I also want to try my best to continue to guide the next contestants," Luo shared.