The All-China Federation of Trade Unions will honor 697 outstanding workers and 898 companies and departments nationwide before International Labor Day on May 1, to help create inspirational role models.

Wang Junzhi, director for labor and economy at the federation, said excellent examples around the country have been chosen, including 99 companies and 799 departments or divisions within them.

"Before each International Labor Day, we select role models around China, aiming to enhance society's respect for outstanding workers and companies," he said.

According to Wang, this year's selection process paid much more attention to front-line industrial workers, especially those working in factories, mines or the transportation sector.

"China has nearly 200 million industrial workers, and 290 of them were honored this time around, accounting for 41.6 percent of the total individual examples," he said.

Individual role models include electrician Li Jie and bullet train mechanical maintenance worker Liu Yunqing.

In addition, honored organizations and departments include the construction headquarters of Beijing's new airport and the Shanghai assembly shop of the C919 passenger plane, China’s first domestically produced commercial jet aircraft.