The opening ceremony for the 45th WorldSkills Competition took place in Kazan, Russia on Thursday night. More than 1,300 competitors, 3,500 volunteers, and WorldSkills leaders joined spectators at the Kazan Arena Stadium for an exciting start to the biennial event. /VCG Photo

Dubbed the "Olympics of Skills", the competition seeks to pit the world’s best young apprentices, trainees and vocationally-trained professionals against each other in 56 skill areas from bricklaying to car painting. /VCG Photo

The spectacular ceremony showed a number of milestones in the history of the WorldSkills movement, starting with the inaugural competition that took place in Madrid, Spain, in 1950. /VCG Photo

With an average age of 21, 63 Chinese contestants will participate in all 56 events, a first for the Chinese delegation. This is China's fifth appearance since joining the WorldSkills Organization in 2010, and the country's largest delegation so far. /VCG Photo