"I had already learned how to make cakes at my uncle's bakery, so I decided to learn how to bake bread because I will have to make desserts and bread, not just cakes, for customers when I open my own shop in the future," he said.

In March last year, Zhang, who graduated in 2017, became a baking teacher at the institute.

Becoming a participant in the WorldSkills baking event was not an accident, but a tribute to his endeavor.

"I won a number of knock-out events from provincial-level to the national trials, and was included in the national team in March," he said. "I felt great pressure and also a big sense of responsibility when I was informed that I would be competing at the competition in Kazan-I had never experienced that before."

He added that during April and May, he spent more than 12 hours a day practicing baking bread, often staying up until 2 am.

"We were given our assignment in July, a month before the competition, but difficulties remained. The assignment was written in English, so it required accurate translation because just one mistake might bring an unbearable result," he said.

"After we received the translated assignment with the help of experts in the national team, we spared no efforts at model events. The training was intense."

According to Zhang, the competitors were required to make several kinds of bread during the competition, including baguettes, pretzels and brioche.

"The competition lasts about two days and contenders are required to make specific breads within a set period," he said.

He added that some problems he encountered during the competition resulted in what he referred to as his "failure".