On 6 November 2023, a 100-year-old cotton warehouse on the banks of Shanghai’s Huangpu River opened as the WorldSkills Museum. Three years on, the museum has become a meeting place for anyone curious about how skilled people have shaped our past and are imagining our future.
On its third anniversary, the museum is celebrating the news that more than one million visitors have stepped through its doors. Hundreds of thousands of them have been Chinese school students who have been using the museum to learn more about skill pathways and possible careers.
The museum enjoyed a huge lift in attendance in September thanks to WorldSkills Shanghai 2026. During the WorldSkills Competition, the museum extended its opening hours and offered shuttle buses to and from the Competition venue. As a result, nearly 37,000 people from around the world visited the museum in just one week.
Among these international visitors were the WorldSkills Champions Trust, who explored the artefacts and tried the immersive exhibits. Nurit Davidowicz is a WorldSkills Champions Trust representative for Europe and a Champion in Industry 4.0. She reflected, “It is really nice to see how skills are explained in the museum for people who are not inside the profession.”
Visitors can explore the museum’s six permanent zones and over 800 artefacts, many of which have been donated or loaned by WorldSkills Members, past Competitors and Experts, and Global Partners. The zones guide you on a skills journey. They cover the tools that have shaped our world, the impact of the Industrial Revolution on skills, China’s contribution to skilled professions, skills and STEM, sustainable skills, and the impact of the WorldSkills movement.
Over the last three years, the museum has also hosted a programme of temporary exhibitions. These have ranged from the craftsmanship of ceramics in “Turning Clay into Gold” to WorldSkills Lyon 2024. Currently, the museum has an impressive collection of white porcelain or “Blanc de Chine” on display, including a room of porcelain flowers representing every country or region that participated in WorldSkills Shanghai 2026.
Mark Callaghan, Director of Event Operations at WorldSkills International and WorldSkills Museum Project Director, celebrates the museum’s impact and its role during WorldSkills Shanghai 2026. He says, “It is incredible to think that in three short years, more than one million people have immersed themselves in skills and learned how our early trades are still shaping our future technologies.”
He adds, “In the years to come, I am confident the museum will continue to play an important part in our skills movement, both in promoting the value of skills and in unlocking the next generation of talent.”
Plan your trip or explore the six zones from wherever you are in the world.