Ku Chin-sung, one of the ROC's Ten Outstanding Young Persons last year, is a welder. After more than 20 years of dedicated effort, Ku's masterly welding skills have succeeded in raising the profile of welders, and his selection demonstrates that blue-collar workers can stand tall if only they are willing to strive to do so. In winning the award, Ku has become a role model for students of Taiwan's vocational schools.

In 2001, Ku, who is currently a lecturer in the National Sun Yat-sen University's Teacher Education Program and the director of the training center of the Welders' Association of the ROC, was also a recipient of the ROC's seventh annual Ten Model Technicians Award, and exemplifies the exhortation that those who are skilled at what they do should pass on their skills.

But Ku's road has been a hard one. Though now teaching in a university setting, he well remembers the safety helmet and mask of the working welder. "Who knows the agonies of the welder?" Ku asks feelingly. "When you're welding, the sparks fall like flowers showered on the Earth below by a goddess of the sky. The temperature reaches 3,600 degrees, which damages not only your eyes but your whole body. When a spark strikes your hand, the pain is intense. But then you think about that one-in-a-million chance that the weld won't be strong enough and the consequences of that, and you grit your teeth, focus yourself and finish off the join the best you possibly can."

Ku brings up a fence in a zoo as an example. If the welds in the fence were carelessly made, children crowding up against the fence might cause those joins to come apart, resulting in a terrible accident. Such an example demonstrates the importance of welding to public safety, and also explains why Ku chose to accept the job of director of the ROC Welders' Association training center. Properly trained, welding engineers working on public works projects can guarantee the quality of the project's welds and thus make it safer for the public.

Ku is a humanitarian who was born in Kaohsiung County's Meinung Township to parents who were tobacco growers. Now 39, he recalls that the groundwater of the Meinung of 30-some years ago was so abundant that wherever you stepped into a field, you'd sink knee deep. Planting the tobacco required tilling those fields, and tilling meant working a plow by hand. Ku remembers, "My father would get the yoke up on his shoulders, then my mother and I would each take a side and pull. With the three of us working together, we'd completely exhaust ourselves in about 30 meters."

As the eldest, Ku didn't want to add to his parents' burdens. He took over the care of his infant brothers, and also took responsibility for getting the fire going, cooking the rice, and doing the laundry. When his mother came in, she had only to prepare a few dishes and everyone could eat.

When Ku finished middle school, he gave up school to go to work for China Shipbuilding, where he began earning a living as an electric welder. His first welding teacher was Huang Chao-liang, a supervisor known around the company as a "monster" welder. Huang was very demanding of his young apprentices, but had a soft heart. He gave Ku a solid education in welding, but also told him, "No matter how skilled you become, you need a formal education too."

Later, when Ku had mastered his trade, he overcame his difficult circumstances, testing into the night schools at Kaohsiung Vocational Technical High School and then the Kaohsiung Institute of Technology. Ku continued to work during the day, making the two-hour round trip from the shipyards to class on his bicycle every evening after he finished his shift. Sometimes he had to pull extra evening shifts at the shipyards, and would have to return to work again after class. When exams were looming, Ku used his breaks to cram for his exams within the clanging cacophony of a ship's hull, still wearing his ear muffs and dust mask.

While with China Shipbuilding, Ku worked both onsite and on subcontracted projects that included Taipower's No. 3 Nuclear Power Plant and China Petroleum's main Kaohsiung facility. Working in the blazing sun and inside ships, Ku acquired a profound knowledge of welding techniques.

When Ku completed his military service in 1985, he returned to China Shipbuilding for six months, then was suddenly taken with the idea of returning to school. Coincidentally, the Graduate Institute of Materials Science at National Sun Yat-sen University just happened to be looking for a welder, and Ku was lucky enough to get the job. The job required that Ku assist with experiments, as well as maintain and upgrade equipment. From welding, Ku moved into the very different field of materials science research. The transition was not an easy one, but Ku was fortunate to have as his advisor Professor Ho New-jin. Ho took a hands-off approach, letting Ku experiment with intermingling theory and practice, and giving him as much space as possible for his research. The result was that Ku not only received the highest level of national certification in welding in his second year in the program, but also completed 50 outstanding papers.

Without spending a penny of his parents' money since middle school, Ku had put himself through school and completed a Master's Degree in materials science at National Sun Yat-sen University. Today, in addition to teaching electric welding techniques, Ku is also a member of the examinations board of the Employment and Vocational Training Administration. Ku is grateful to all the people who have inspired him for his current success. He is especially thankful for the support of his wife, Hsu Ju-chuen.

Ku enthusiastically consults with people from all areas, and has done his utmost to assist domestic research in fields related to welding. Ku also contributes by "resuscitating" expensive machinery damaged by human errors or natural disasters, thus helping industry and educational institutions reduce the massive financial losses that can result from such events. While his work has guaranteed that machinery works, he has helped even more people by passing the torch of his knowledge on to his students.

Ku says that Taiwan's welders are today among the world's best, and notes that the world's best bicycles are "Made in Taiwan." The many varied products made by Taiwan's precision welders are internationally respected, and even the complex welds required for submarines are a piece of cake for Taiwan's welders.

The hardworking and sincere Ku subscribes to a philosophy he calls "say no to the three waits." He sincerely wishes that people would not spend their lives "waiting to get off work, waiting for their paychecks and waiting for their vacations." Ku believes, "If you spend your life waiting for things, you fritter away your time and achieve nothing."

Ku even more fervently wishes that the government and society would pay more attention and offer more assistance to skilled workers whose formal education doesn't extend beyond high school. Ku feels strongly that every profession has its masters, and that laborers too can stand tall and contribute to society.

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Relying on his desire to learn and improve, Ku Chin-sung has carved out an important role.