¡°Stupid Ways¡± Make ¡°Backward¡± Become ¡°Advanced¡±

Zhang Zhikun, who was born in Puning City, Guangdong Province, left his hometown after graduating from junior high school in 2010 because of poor academic performance and came to Guangdong Mechanical Technician College to study.

Zhang Zhikun said, ¡°At that time, I was still ignorant and didn¡¯t know what to do with skills.¡±

¡°Skills¡± is a completely new term for Zhang Zhikun, and even the CNC milling major was chosen by his father for him.

Although the professional courses are difficult, Zhang Zhikun did not give up. In April 2011, when he heard that the school was going to set up a CNC competition class, where he could learn more knowledge and participate in various professional competitions, Zhang Zhikun had the idea of wanting to enter this class for the first time.

¡°It seems that I have suddenly found the direction. I think it is an opportunity and decide to give it a try.¡± Zhang Zhikun said.

Zhang Zhikun signed up for the exam, but because his foundation was too poor, he did not succeed in the end. "It was then that I realized what it meant to regret not having enough knowledge when you need it. I only regretted that I didn't study hard in school, and it was meaningless to cram at the last minute." Zhang Zhikun said.

The desire to learn skills made the shy Zhang Zhikun muster up the courage for the first time and expressed his determination to join the competition class to the teacher. "I didn't expect that the teacher of the competition class would notify me to report the next day. I was very happy and fortunate, and I cherished this precious opportunity more and more."

There are 120 students in the competition class. Some of them will be eliminated every once in a while. Only those who stay until the end can represent the school to participate in the competition. As an "airborne soldier", Zhang Zhikun almost saw no hope of staying until the end at the beginning.

"But I was not defeated by this situation. On the contrary, it inspired my determination to fight to the end." Zhang Zhikun knew very well that if he wanted to stay until the end, he had to work harder than others.

Zhang Zhikun, who claimed to be not smart enough, was the last one to study every day among all the students, and the first one to start studying the next day. This "stupid method" in the eyes of others has kept Zhang Zhikun from being eliminated.

The number of students in the class has gradually decreased from 120 to less than 20, which gradually gave Zhang Zhikun hope. In the winter vacation of 2011, in order to compete for the last place in the competition, he gave up his rest and seized every minute to practice hard at home.

Hard work pays off. After returning to school after the Spring Festival in 2012, Zhang Zhikun successfully won the opportunity to participate in the competition with his skilled skills and became a player of the school team.

Zhang Zhikun was in a tense competition at the 43rd World Skills Competition. Photo provided by me

Preparing for the World Skills Competition and enjoying the joy of learning skills

In December 2012, Zhang Zhikun participated in the 5th China CNC Skills Competition, which was his first time to participate in a Chinese competition. Because he was too nervous and affected the rhythm of the competition, Zhang Zhikun made mistakes when processing parts and only won the second place.

Although he did not win the championship, the coach saw Zhang Zhikun's potential and encouraged him to participate in the 43rd WorldSkills Competition.

The WorldSkills Competition, which represents the advanced level of the development of vocational skills in the world today and is known as the "Skills Olympics", is different from the Chinese competition. Participants need to undergo more than a year of training and selection in China, and only one person can represent the country in the competition.

After hearing the news, Zhang Zhikun was very excited, "I have found a new goal."

In order to relieve the problem of being easily nervous during the competition, Zhang Zhikun began to consciously train himself a year in advance. He successively participated in internships in enterprises, actively participated in various competitions, and also consulted a lot of information on psychology.

In 2014, the preparation training for the 43rd WorldSkills Competition officially began. After more than a year of experience, Zhang Zhikun's learning ability has been greatly improved, and he has begun to have some insights in his professional field.

However, during the training, Zhang Zhikun still insisted on his "stupid method", "Only through repeated practice can I learn more experience and discover more details."

When the coach reminded him to consider the factors of thermal expansion and contraction, Zhang Zhikun would take the initiative to do experiments, repeatedly measuring the subtle changes of the workpiece at different temperatures and the corresponding values of the parameters.

Before going to bed and after waking up every day, he would review the knowledge learned in daily training and think deeply about how to design the most appropriate operating process.

In the eyes of his roommates, Zhang Zhikun is a "strange person" who lies in bed in a daze at night and still lies in bed in a daze after waking up in the morning. But they don't know that Zhang Zhikun is actually "obsessively immersed in the world of CNC milling, enjoying the happiness brought by learning skills."

Zhang Zhikun (first from the right) communicates with members of the British delegation. Photo provided by me

The belated gold medal witnessed the glory of China's CNC milling technology reaching the top of the world

After continuous efforts and full preparation, Zhang Zhikun finally successfully obtained the ticket to the 43rd World Skills Competition.

The competition lasted for three days, and one module had to be made every day. Zhang Zhikun performed very stably. The first module test only deducted 0.1 points, the second module deducted 0.2 points, and the third module, according to the original sampling method of the judges, received full marks.

If nothing unexpected happens, Zhang Zhikun will be the one who won the first gold medal for the Chinese team. However, his CNC milling champion result was only published on the official website of the World Skills Competition for two hours before it was removed due to changes in the evaluation rules and the need for a second test. The second result will be postponed for at least one week before it can be made public, which makes Zhang Zhikun lose the only opportunity in his life to stand on the podium of the World Skills Competition.

"When I saw other partners standing on the podium wearing national flags, grievance, anger, sadness...all kinds of emotions came flooding in like a tide." While others were enjoying flowers and applause, Zhang Zhikun could only embark on the journey home with skill coach Lu Hongxun in loneliness, and began a long wait that felt like a year.

Good things come hard. Ten days later, Simon Bartley, chairman of the WorldSkills Organization, announced to the world through a video on the official website that the gold medalist of the CNC milling project of the 43rd WorldSkills Competition was Chinese player Zhang Zhikun.

This hard-won gold medal is not only a recognition of Zhang Zhikun's hard work, but also a sign that China's manufacturing capabilities and equipment level in the field of precision machining have ranked among the world's leading ranks, and China is moving from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power.

Zhang Zhikun is programming. Photo provided by me

Teaching and educating people to be a "spark" that spreads skills

Faced with the belated honor, Zhang Zhikun did not complain, but was more content.

From learning CNC milling skills in 2010 to winning a gold medal for the country in 2015, from being a poor student in the eyes of others to being a good student in the eyes of many people, from not liking to study to being good at thinking, from being confused and helpless to finding goals and realizing dreams, Zhang Zhikun feels that the experience and feelings gained along the way are far more important than this medal.

After the competition, Zhang Zhikun decided to stay in school to teach. Compared with enterprises, he feels that teaching and educating people can better reflect his value. "The power of one person is limited. The future of Made in China needs more skilled talents."

Although he has not received teacher education, Zhang Zhikun believes that he has his own advantages. "When facing students with poor grades, I will be more patient and know how to teach so that students can accept it more easily, because this is how I have come all the way."

Facing the lack of language expression ability, Zhang Zhikun gradually cultivated his habit of reading and improved his shortcomings bit by bit. "No one is born a genius. People always have imperfections. It is precisely because of these imperfections that we know how to grow and progress." Zhang Zhikun is full of confidence in the future.

As a teacher at Guangdong Mechanical Technician College and a coach for the CNC milling project at the WorldSkills Competition, Zhang Zhikun uses his experience and skills to guide and train his students. After two years of training, in October 2017, at the 44th WorldSkills Competition in the United Arab Emirates, Zhang Zhikun's student Yang Denghui participated in the CNC milling competition and won the gold medal in the project, as well as the "National Best Award for the Chinese Team".

Equally worth celebrating is Zhang Zhikun's younger brother Zhang Zhibin, who also participated in the 44th WorldSkills Competition and defeated masters from Japan, South Korea, Brazil and other countries to win the championship in the plastic mold engineering project. Together with Zhang Zhikun, he became the Chinese "twin stars" shining in the "WorldSkills Olympics".

According to statistics from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, as of 2016, the total number of high-skilled talents in China has reached 47.91 million, but there is still a gap in talent reserves. In his report at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that we should build a large army of knowledgeable, skilled and innovative workers, carry forward the spirit of model workers and craftsmen, and create a social atmosphere of glory in labor and a work ethic of excellence.

0.015 to 0.04 mm, this is the precision requirement for the CNC milling project of the 43rd WorldSkills Competition, which is thinner than a strand of hair of an adult. Today, we call for the spirit of craftsmanship, not only for the excellence of the older generation of craftsmen, but also for the development and inheritance of the spirit of craftsmanship by the new generation of young people.

Zhang Zhikun said, "There is still a long way to go in the future. I am willing to dedicate my youth and blood to this educational cause, carry forward the spirit of craftsmanship of excellence, cultivate more skilled craftsmen, help Made in China go global, and create brilliance." (China Youth Network reporter Liu Zhe)

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