Born in 1999, Chui Tingting graduated with a bachelor's degree from Shandong University in 2021, becoming an English teacher in Chongqing shortly thereafter.

As her husband came to work at China Railway No 4 Engineering Group, Chui too applied for a job with the State builder, and was hired in February 2022.

She was assigned to work at a project in Xizang autonomous region in Southwest China, following CREC4's practice of cultivating its staffers — learning skills at the grassroots level.

In November 2022, she was transferred to a CREC4 project to build the Anshun-Panzhou section of the Shanghai-Kunming Expressway, with project headquarters located in Liuzhi special district under Liupanshui, Guizhou province.

Aiming to hone its staffers into versatile talent capable of working at various tasks and positions, Hefei, Anhui province-based CREC4 has formulated its own talent training policies amid its 75 years of history, Chui said.

With a staff of some 25,500, CREC4's businesses are distributed across 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions on the Chinese mainland, as well as in 38 countries and regions, including Angola, Mongolia and Indonesia.

Due to her excellent work, Chui was assigned to work as office director at the No 3 division of the CREC4 project department in Liuzhi, in charge of coordination and liaison work, as well as hiring locals to take part in work-for-relief programs.

Luo Kao now serves as deputy director of the project department's engineering division in charge of a smart prefabrication yard. But two years ago, he was only a technical supervisor at the yard.

While working at the yard, Luo gained a deeper understanding of new quality productive forces and intelligent construction by engaging with the new equipment and new processes, and was soon promoted to his current position.

Under his management, the appearance and quality of the T-shaped beams produced all reached an advanced level.

Li Shifu, Party secretary of the No 3 division, said building a highway can bring a series of benefits — profit and employees' skill enhancement for CREC4, better flow of goods and people for the nation, and cash income for locals participating in construction tasks.

Li said CREC4's construction workers have reached 2,746 since the building work for the expansion of the Anshun-Panzhou section started in March 2023, including temporary workers from Liuzhi.

Dai Xi, a driver from Zunyi in Guizhou, was glad to hear of the expansion work, and came to accept a job at the project department.

Governing 15 towns and three sub-district communities, with a total population of over 750,300,Liuzhi houses 253 villages and urban neighborhood communities.

Li Guang, a chief engineer at CREC4 project department, stressed that while building the expressway, helping locals get jobs and increase incomes was also vital.

One-third of the villages in Longhe town, Liuzhi — where his project department is located — are Miao ethnic villages, and most young people rely on migrant work to improve their lives. So a work-for-relief program was designed to help locals, Li said.

"Our project department organized 30 free training sessions and pre-job training for steel bar binding and welding for over 200 people, and finally hired some of them for the construction work," he said.

Yang Wenfu, a Miao ethnic worker from Longchang village, Longhe, joined the CREC4 construction team after training.

"Previously, I had to depend on my 3 mu paddy field and rapeseed fields to make a living, but now, as a steel reinforcement worker, I can proficiently tie and knot steel bars to earn a handsome monthly salary to support my children and their education," Yang said.

Li Shifu noted that since their construction work started, they have provided 1,647 jobs for locals, including 142 ethnic minority workers, paying them 132.83 million yuan ($19 million) in total.

"Meanwhile, our 2,746 staffers working here have also boosted the economy of Longhe through our spending," he said.

"The CREC4 staffers have enabled our villagers to learn skills and steadily increase their incomes without leaving town. They have truly built a bridge of friendship, injecting strong momentum into the rural vitalization in Longhe," said Wang Yongyue, Party secretary of Longhe.