WONG:
The 'Bird's Nest' national stadium is the pride of Beijing and a key image associated with China's 2008 Olympic Games. But the men and women who built it may never see it in its full glory. The army of migrant workers who worked on the city's 31 Olympic projects, say as the opening ceremony draws near, they don't feel welcome in the capital.
STORY:
Beijing begins its pre-Olympic clean-up in earnest on July 20. All construction work has to be completed by then to allow the usual haze of construction dust to settle before the world's athletes arrive.

The sudden halt in work is expected to leave millions of migrant workers without a job. Without a reason to stay in the city, they say they will become part of the clean-out.

Many of the city's 4 million migrant workers say they have been asked to leave as there are no jobs for them, or at least for the duration of the Olympics to keep them off the streets.

Authorities have been stepping up checks on people without Beijing residency over the past months. Many people affected by the checks say the government's main reasons for this is to clear the city of potential protesters or anything that might dent Beijing's image as a modern metropolis.

Already, migrant workers are queuing at Beijing's bus and railway stations to go home or to other more prosperous cities in the hope of finding work.

Qin Weizhang and his wife, originally from Shandong, were leaving Beijing for Inner Mongolia, where they heard of work opportunities after their Olympic construction work contract was finished. He is sorry not to see the Olympics in his home country.

[Qin Weizhang, Migrant Worker]:
"We do not have the time. I want to see the Olympics but I have to earn money.”

The enforced halt in construction will clear the air, but will leave many of the city's floating workforce with no choice but to leave or endure a 2-month break most can not afford to take.