Other honors

Besides the model worker honor, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the top trade union organization, also oversees the selection of winners of other top honors - the National May 1 Labor Medal for working people and a certificate for groups.

The federation started to award the medals and certificates annually in 1985.

They are granted to individuals and teams who make remarkable contributions to economic development, disaster relief and other fields.

As of 2012, more than 26,000 individuals and some 8,000 groups had received the award.

In 2012, among the 1,235 medalists, 62 percent were grassroots workers and technicians, 19 percent were scientific researchers and teachers, 11 percent were government and public institution employees and 8 percent were corporate managerial staff.

This year will see 1,224 medalists and 312 groups winning the certificate. The awards are given prior to International May Day.

An individual who wins the medal will receive 5,000 yuan from the union.

Before 2004 there was no cash award.

Labor medalists are also given opportunities to participate in recreational tours organized by unions.

In 2012, tours were arranged for 4,000 workers, according to Chen Linglang, a division chief overseeing the selection of medalists at the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

Winners of the labor medals are also given the chance of higher education without taking entrance exams, he said.

Such education is similar to community college.

Although there is no national regulation stipulating benefits for medalists, local governments have their own rules.

In Zhejiang province, workers who win labor medals can have wage increases and will see a 10 percent rise in pension after retirement.

In Heilongjiang province, medalists are entitled to a medical subsidy each month, and those whose family has a per capita living space smaller than the local average can have priority for subsidized housing and low-rent housing.

Golden Phoenix Team, an elite group of stewards at Air China, the country's flag carrier, was awarded the National May 1 Labor Certificate in 1999.

Feng Ruixiang, who led the team, said although there were not any material rewards from the title, the spiritual significance was what the title embodied.

"I felt it was so heavy and I could not utter a word when holding the certificate at the ceremony," said the 50-year-old. "The only thing on my mind then was that we should work harder to improve our services."

Many team members have been promoted and Feng is now a division chief of the company's cabin services sector.

"Every steward in the company wants to be a member of the Golden Phoenix Team. Fortunately I made it," said Shi Lei, 40, one of the leaders of the team.

The team was founded in 1994 and was designed to represent the highest-standard services of the company's stewards.

Currently the team has 150 members.