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Tajikistan's teacher (left) and students operate an instrument at the Luban Workshop on April 17, 2023. Photo: CFP

A 20-something Tajik student Bakhtiyor Bozorzoda was on a flight from Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan to China on July 5. He, along with other 11 Tajik teachers and students from the Luban Workshop in Tajikistan, will participate in a near one-month training and study program at the Tianjin Urban Construction Management & Vocation Technology College (TUCMVTC). The workshop has been jointly established by TUCMVTC, Tianjin Chengjian University and the Tajikistan Technical University (TTU).

Bozorzoda, who majored in geodesy and cartography, will graduate from TTU next year. He plans to study at a university in North China's Tianjin Municipality for a master's degree, and then return with the requisite understanding in engineering to the Luban Workshop to teach more local students.

Bozorzoda joined the Luban Workshop in 2022, making him one of the first students registered at the workshop, after it officially opened in November 2022. 

The workshop, being the first-of-its-kind in Central Asia, has filled the gap in vocational and technical education in Tajikistan. It is also a vivid display of the people-to-people exchanges between China and Tajikistan as well as the two countries' growing bilateral cooperation, which is being elevated further by the Chinese top leader's recent state visit to the Central Asian country.

"The Luban Workshop has built a bridge for mutual understanding and cultural exchanges between China and Tajikistan. And it will further provide the necessary knowledge and training to cultivate local talents for expanding bilateral economic and trade cooperation," Li Qingbin, the Chinese head of the Workshop and Secretary of the Party Committee of TUCMVTC, told the Global Times.

Lu Ban spirit

When the Global Times met Bozorzoda in a classroom in Dushanbe last week, he was learning how to play with a Luban lock with his teacher. A Luban lock is a traditional Chinese folk toy that was invented by Lu Ban, known as "father of carpentry" in China. 

"Playing with the Luban lock is very exciting. It is also really difficult, and requires a lot of thinking. I have learned the key to disassemble the lock today, and I will also teach my classmates the skill," Bozorzoda said. He also plans to buy some Luban locks as gifts for his friends and families during his stay in China.

When asked about his impression on Lu Ban, Bozorzoda described the historic Chinese craftsman as a "creator," "master" and "great man," among other phrases. "Lu Ban is my idol now, and I'm sure that after sometime, he will also be more famous in Tajikistan," Bozorzoda noted.

Bozorzoda also identified himself as a fan of Chinese culture. During the interview, he frequently cited a Chinese old saying - "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime" - as a summarization on his learning experience at the Luban Workshop. 

"I'm learning more about instruments here. The teachers taught us how to work with it, such as how to use computer programming in engineering work," Bozorzoda exemplified.

A view of the Luban Workshop in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on July 4, 2024 Photo: Li Xuanmin/GT

The Luban Workshop covers an area of 1,138 square meters. It has set up 13 majors, including Civil Engineering and Architecture, within the Tajikistan Technical University. Currently, about 1,500 students have received training at the workshop, a tripling of the center's initial intake.

According to Li, the workshop has adopted a very "innovative" teaching model, which enables students to access to various instruments and equipment, thus making it more convenient and efficient to learn technical skills. In traditional ways, students at the college were taken to a construction site for their internships and the opportunities for skill learning and improvements were limited. 

"Currently, Tajikistan is in a period of rapid infrastructure development and urgently needs a large number of technical personnel with experience in urban thermal energy and engineering surveying. So the professional courses set up at the workshop can effectively assist in the cultivation of local technical personnel and address the shortage of such talent," Li explained. 

There are already a number of Tajik students graduating from the Luban Workshop and the knowledge they learned at the workshop has significantly boosted their job-seeking and employment prospects, with some assuming key roles in Chinese firms in Tajikistan, according to Han Dongqi, the Chinese constructor of the Luban Workshop and also the Secretary-General of the Chinese Overseas Association in Tajikistan.

"Tajik graduates from the Luban Workshop can earn around $800 to $1,000 a month, which is compared with the local average of $300 a month and represents a significant rise in personal incomes," Han noted.

People-to-people exchanges

Walking into the Luban Workshop in Dushanbe, various classroom decorations and the bright smiles and greetings from Tajik students all speak volume for the deep level of mutual affection between Chinese and Tajik people.

For example, the walls of the classroom have been adorned with red big-sized Chinese knots, and particularly eye-catching is a Chinese knot artwork made by using pipe bending technology. Tajik students told the Global Times that the "pipeline" Chinese knot was welded by Chinese teachers and symbolizes the friendship between China and Tajikistan, which is as steadfast as the "towering Pamir Plateau."

A Chinese knot made by using pipe bending technology at the Luban Workshop Photo: Li Xuanmin/GT

"We really hope that our collaboration with the Chinese side will become deeper and broader," Tajik teacher Lazabek Lazabov told the Global Times. Lazabov also arrived in Tianjin on July 7 for more in-depth learning and exchanges with his Chinese peers, and he said he cannot wait to meet his Chinese friends in TUCMVTC.

One of his Chinese friends, Wu Zhengpeng, deputy dean of the School of Civil Engineering at TUCMVTC, told the Global Times that he hopes Lazabov could take a tour to the hometown of Lu Ban. "Lu Ban is a manifestation of inheriting the craftsman spirit, which is the spirit shared by Chinese and Tajik people," Wu noted.

Tajikistan is one of the earliest countries to join the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Luban Workshop in Tajikistan, which serves as a flagship "technical station" for bilateral cooperation under BRI, also plays an exemplary role in training professional talents and facilitating the common development of the Central Asian region, observers said. 

"The Luban Workshop's presence in Tajikistan has broadened the field of educational cooperation between China and Central Asian countries and filled the gap in China-Central Asia cultural cooperation," Chinese Ambassador to Tajikistan Ji Shumin told the Global Times. 

China plans to open the second Luban Workshop in Kazakhstan, after the first one was established in December 2023. The first Luban Workshop in Uzbekistan was also opened last year, according to media reports.