In the middle of winter, in the masonry training room of Anhui Construction Engineering Technician College, Zhang Dongyang, wearing a pair of black-framed glasses, wore a sky blue training uniform, shuttling between the gas cutting machine and the masonry platform. While holding the brick, he leaned over and stared at the data on the drawing, and a five-star red flag on his left chest was beating like a bright flame.
Zhang Dongyang (first from right) instructs two apprentices to build a wall with a Chinese knot pattern.
Interest is the best teacher to guide him forward.
In 2017, after graduating from junior high school, Zhang Dongyang came to Anhui Construction Engineering Technician College from his hometown Tianqiao, Linquan County, Fuyang City, to study building construction.
My ancestors didn't have a dry mason. When I was a child, my family built a self-built house, and I watched the master bricklayer carrying a cement bucket and building a wall with red bricks, fast and straight, and I felt that their movements were so chic! Zhang Dongyang recalled that it was this scene in his childhood that made him interested in brickwork.
In 2019, the Anhui Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security launched the "Seedlings Program" for talent training in technical colleges. The school immediately conducted a school-wide audition. Zhang Dongyang felt that he could go to undergraduate colleges and universities by participating in national and even international vocational skills competitions through auditions, which expanded the promotion channels of vocational and technical education, and made him feel that his future was particularly promising, so he immediately signed up for the competition.
He was training hard in the cold and summer, and his outstretched hands were covered with calluses.
In December 2020, in the masonry project of the first National Vocational Skills Competition, 18-year-old Zhang Dongyang won the sixth place. But he has the frustration of his own lack of ability. "Because the preparation time before the competition is relatively short, there must be a lack of skills, so when I came back, I discussed with the coach and asked for more training intensity. ”
This practice is three years. More than 6 hours a day, with a total of more than 100,000 bricks of training, Zhang Dongyang's hands were covered with calluses, and his knuckles were also deformed and misaligned. The reporter saw that his hands were rough and cracked, not at all like the hands of young students or teachers, but like the hands of a migrant worker uncle who has experienced the vicissitudes of life.
Zhang Dongyang's rough hands.
The skill of masonry is far more than that, not only the final product is required to be beautiful, but also the error is accurate to the millimeter. In order to understand a drawing, Zhang Dongyang often pondered and practiced in the training room overnight. Once, when he saw a complex drawing, he was a little confused at first, and he didn't know how to start for a while, so he squatted in the training room for 24 hours, constantly picking up bricks to ponder and operate, trying to find a breakthrough point. When you're hungry, you order takeout, and when you're tired, you lie on a folding bed to rest. He told the coach the solution he had come up with with with his brain, and everyone discussed the optimization together.
Due to his lack of experience in the competition, Zhang Dongyang also had to play a guest role as an assistant coach, and worked with the coaching staff to develop and try various training plans. Yang Shilong and Wan Jinyu have now become his apprentices, following behind to earnestly learn inheritance techniques.
In September 2023, Zhang Dongyang participated in the 2nd National Skills Competition. With the stable performance during the competition, the results ranked among the best among all the contestants, and won the bronze medal in the masonry project in one fell swoop, successfully helping the Anhui delegation to achieve a breakthrough of "zero" medals in the masonry project of the National Skills Competition. "The moment I stood on the podium, I felt that it was worth it no matter how tired I was. Zhang Dongyang said with a smile.
The tempering of the two national competitions has made Zhang Dongyang's skills more and more proficient, from the original masonry of each layer of bricks need to be constantly measured with a ruler, to now every shovel of cement, the thickness is just right. "There is no shortcut to this skill, only practice and let the iron pestle be sharpened into a needle. Zhang Dongyang said. For the past two years, he has been receiving constant invitations to participate in domestic competitions. He said that through his own efforts and the cultivation of the school, he has gone from being a "little white" and "counterattack" who was rejected in this industry to being invited to do a demonstration of technical actions, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in professional technology.
Zhang Dongyang cuts wall tiles, a special Chinese knot pattern usually requires cutting more than 200 bricks.
I look forward to competing for my country at the World Championships in France.
After returning from the National Skills Competition, Zhang Dongyang was hired as a professional teacher by his alma mater, Anhui Construction Engineering Technician College, and his identity changed from a student to a teacher.
Zhang Dongyang was selected by the school at all levels, and we can see his solid footprints of growing step by step. He is strict with himself in his training and can listen to good advice or suggestions from his coach. Masonry is to repeatedly study and practice hard in daily training to improve physical fitness and skills. He is especially able to endure hardships and is willing to use his brains, which is a rare good seedling! Zhang Dawu, the head coach of the school's World Championships, commented.
The Spring Festival is approaching, what are the New Year's wishes for Zhang Dongyang, who has just returned from training in the national training team? This handsome and quiet guy told reporters that in September this year, he is looking forward to representing the country in the 47th WorldSkills Competition Masonry Project Competition held in Leon, France.
The school has a wall in front of which the award-winning works of the students for their masonry projects are displayed.
Zhang Dongyang said that at present, there are five players in the masonry project of the national training team participating in the competition, and one player will eventually represent the motherland. He will do his best to realize this glorious dream. This Spring Festival, after three days of going home to visit his family, he will devote all his time and energy to daily training and preparation.
Struggle paves the most beautiful youthful background. Like Zhang Dongyang, countless young craftsmen who have devoted themselves to their dreams have injected new vitality into the team of skilled talents in the new era, and set an example for young people with the spirit of craftsmen of a great country who are meticulous and strive for perfection.
Photo by Hefei Tong client Hebao reporter Dai Xiaohua.