Not a forbidden city

The seven-year-long preparations for the current Olympics added 2.1 million permanent residents to Beijing's population, taking it to more than 15 million. And the increase, of course, includes the migrant workers who have contributed to the success of the ongoing sporting event.

It would have been impossible for the host city Beijing to have built so many new sports venues, including the landmark ones such as the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube, in such a short time had it not been for the hard work of so many construction workers mostly from other parts of the country.

As the host city of the Games, Beijing has proved to be an open city not only to athletes and sports fans from all over the world, but also to rural migrant workers who aspired to have their urban dream come true in the capital city in the past decades.