China topped the gold medal count as the 44th WorldSkills Competition came to an end in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Thursday.

China participated in 47 events and took 15 gold medals, 7 silver medals, eight bronze medals. It's the best performance of Chinese delegation in WorldSkills Competition since it joined World Skills in 2010 and it was the fourth time that China participated in the competition.

China was selected on October 13 to host the WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai in 2021 on the second day of Abu Dhabi event.

The Worldkills Competition takes place every two years and is the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in the world.

The competitors are selected from WorldSkills' Member countries and regions and represent the best of their peers. They demonstrate technical abilities both individually and collectively to execute specific tasks for which they study and perform.

About 1,260 competitors from 68 WorldSkills' Member countries and regions participated in 52 competition events this year. China sent the largest-ever delegation of 52 members, whose ages range from 18 to 21, this time to compete in 47 of the events. It was the first time for China to participate in 18 of the events, said Zhang Lixin, head of the Professional Capacity Building Department at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The 52 were chosen from more than 1,000 who took part in national competitions from last July to April this year, said He.

China boasts 165 million skilled laborers but only 47.91 million of them are high-skilled ones.