Intensive training underway as Yanqing gears up for big events

Intensive vocational training is underway to equip Yanqing residents with the knowledge and skills needed to host an international horticultural expo and the Winter Olympics.

The northwestern district of Beijing, host of the upcoming 2019 China Beijing International Horticulture Exhibition and Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, has introduced 100 training programs in 60 vocational institutes to build a talent pool for the events.

According to the district's human resources bureau, nearly 20,000 people were trained in 2018, with 3,000 in modern horticulture and 5,500 in volunteering, security and canteen services. The number is expected to reach 100,000 by 2022.

Training programs featuring traditional craftsmanship are offered. Making huamo, steamed buns shaped like flowers, is one of them. The traditional pastry, originally from Yuncheng in Shanxi province, was listed as national intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

Qin Yuxin, inheritor of the traditional culinary art, now teaches a class of 50 students at a training school in the town of Zhangshanying. The pastry-making is complicated, including procedures like cutting, kneading and twisting.

All the students are Yanqing residents, mostly women.

"The two big events have ignited local enthusiasm and I hope my skills will help them better prepare for the upcoming events," Qin said.

Wang Guiping, who runs a guesthouse at her 600-square-meter farmyard in Yanqing, has studied for two months. "The training is useful and provides us a good way to raise our earnings during the events," she said.

Training in hospitality is also useful, said Gu Jianfeng, 39, who opened a homestay in 2017.

"How to decorate the homestay hotels and entertain guests is new to me," Gu said. "After training, I am more familiar with the etiquette and hope our guesthouses will better serve the upcoming expo."

Zhu Jilin, deputy director of the human resources bureau, said training programs have boosted local employment and the economy.

"Three hotels in the expo park and one real estate company signed contracts with us to employ more of the trainees before the expo park opens," he said.

The 2019 China Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition is set to open on April 29 and run until Oct 7. Construction of the expo park is planned for completion by the end of March.

The 2022 Winter Olympics will use 26 competition and noncompetition venues in downtown Beijing, Yanqing district and co-host city Zhangjiakou, in Hebei province.