Internet sites have made a startling accusation. They are reporting that Lin Miaoke (林妙可)，the ultra-cute nine-year-old girl who sang “Paean to the Motherland” when the Chinese national flag entered the Bird’s Nest Stadium during the Olympics Opening Ceremony, was a fake. They claim to have an interview from a Chinese official admitting that they swapped out the real child for a cuter child to make the scene perfect. The real angelic voice allegedly belonged to Yang Peiyi (杨沛宜), a student of the Attached Primary School of Beijing University, who was not cute enough for prime time.
In an interview, the official is reportedly to have admitted the swap:
Chen Qigang: The first condition was that the director wants the image to be very cute. We selected about ten children… Then we had to choose one from those who had a good image who can sing well…
We chose one ten-year-old child, whose voice was really good. All the rehearsals were using her singing… In the end the director thought her image was not the most appropriate, she was a little too old… so regrettably, we had to let her go.
Then, as we chose another singer, the standard was that she needs to be seven years old. Lin Miaoke (林妙可) was one of them, another was Yang Peiyi (杨沛宜), and there were others.
Then we went to the Central People’s Radio Station to do the recording…
Finally we made the decision that the voice we would use was Yang Peiyi’s.
If true, it would be the perfect opening ceremony for the propagandized country. It is not reality but appearance (the perfect appearance) that matters.
It is like the scene in Singing in the Rain, where Lina pretends to sing at the opening of The Dancing Cavalier while Kathy signs behind the curtain. The only problem is that in the movie, Don, Cosmo and R.F. pull back the curtain to give Kathy the full credit.
Next, athletes will be swapped at the medal ceremonies for Chinese models who can better represent the Chinese ideal.
Everyone is looking forward to the closing ceremony featuring Milli Vinilli singing the Chinese national anthem.
dundar, the Chinese government has followers in America because they make this fake for appearance. The American government? Fake stories so they can send soldiers to invade another country, kill innocent people and say it’s collateral damage. Which is more damaging?
That poor little girl Yang — who is also cute as the proverbial button — is going to grow up with a complex! What kind of heartless bastard do you have to be to tell a child that she sings nicely but she’s not pretty enough to actually sing the song on TV?
I can’t be surprised when a communistic, totalitarian government does something that is underhanded and makes up its own reality. I guess they were just trying to impress George W. in the stands.
This was cruel to both girls. It does say alot about a society that they would be so unkind and use each child, one for her voice, another for her looks. I don’t think this type of thing is unique to China. Those creepy child “beauty pagents” happen in the US.
I think we should train ourselves to challenge cultural norms of beauty. There is only a narrow window of looks that are allowed to be called beautiful in every culture. While acknowledging those looks, we don’t have to be so docile in accepting them as the end of the matter. We have minds that are capable of questioning norms, so I say, use them. It’s as stupid to bow to the beauty authorities as to political authority.
BTW–according to BBC this A.M. that wasn’t all that was fake-so were the pictures of the firework footprints. Either they didn’t exist at all, other than one, or as is now admitted the pictures were “enhanced”.
The world would be so much better off if China’s Government just slid into the sea. It is amazing the Chinese Government still has followers & admirers in America….
Maybe the most invidious and insidious discrimination is against those whom some consider homely. This case is doubly outrageous since it also has overtones of age discrimination–at age 10. I ‘ve heard of show trials, but show shows?