A year after helping to build the Bird's Nest, Tibetan migrant steelworker Leng Bao, returned to the stadium on Friday as a spectator, all thanks to the generosity of a group of Internet users.
Last month, website 163.com appealed to its users to help pay for Leng to travel to Beijing to watch the Olympics at the iconic stadium.
The 28-year-old from a small village in Qinghai province, had already become moderately famous after singing a song about migrant workers on a CCTV program. The website said it received hundreds of offers of help and eventually selected 10 people to finance Leng's trip.
"It's amazing to be here watching the Games," Leng said on Friday.
"When I was working on the stadium a year ago, I kept thinking how wonderful it would be if I could earn enough money so I could come back and watch the Games."
One of Leng's benefactors was a man surnamed Lu, who works at Beijing Botanical Garden.
When the pair met on Thursday at a Beijing railway station, Leng presented Lu with the safety helmet he wore while working on the Bird's Nest.
"I was fined 10 yuan ($1.50) for keeping the hat after I finished working there last July. But it is meaningful to me," Leng said.
"That's why I wanted to give it to my kindhearted friend."
Another benefactor, Zhang Zhen, a web designer who moved to Beijing from Shandong province five months ago, said: "My father was a steelworker, and when I saw Leng he reminded me of my brother.
"If I hadn't help pay for his trip, he probably would never have got another chance."
Zhang even invited Leng to stay at his home on his first night in the capital.
A third 163.com user surnamed Hu donated 500 yuan to Leng's fund, which he used Saturday to pay for visits to the Forbidden City and other tourist spots in Beijing.
Today he will return home by train, thanks to a man from Suzhou, Jiangsu province, who paid his fare.
Xinhua