Feng Dongbo, a senior welding technician from the Daqing oilfield, China's best-known oil industrial base, realized his Olympic dream on Saturday.

The sacred flame was transferred in Daqing city, the second leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay in the country's northernmost Heilongjiang province.

"I'm most honored to be a torchbearer," said the 36-year-old oil worker Feng.

Like many other grass-root torchbearers in the Beijing Olympic torch relay, Feng is ordinary but an elite in his field.

Despite having no chance of getting higher education, he has become an expert in welding technology through years of hard work.

In the past 17 years of his professional career, Feng has successfully soldered nearly 40,000 pipes, without making a single mistake. The pipes that welded by Feng were often touched as smooth as bracelets, according to a colleague of him.

Since working as a welding technician requires one to have a pair of skillful hands and strong legs, Feng does exercises everyday and everywhere.

He usually abandoned seats and squatted in walkway for hours when he had long-distance travels by bus. He believed that through practices his legs would be stronger.

"As a torchbearer, now I understand the Olympic motto much better. It will encourage me to be increasingly faster, stronger, and higher in my daily work," said Feng.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2008)