| Another little girl with a pixie smile lip-synced | |
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| Aug 12, 2008 12:57 |   |
 | BEIJING — A 7-year-old Chinese girl was not good-looking enough for the Olympics opening ceremony, so another little girl with a pixie smile lip-synced "Ode to the Motherland," a ceremony official said — the latest example of the lengths Beijing took for a perfect start to the Summer Games. A member of China's Politburo asked for the last-minute change to match one girl's face with another's voice, the ceremony's chief music director, Chen Qigang, said in an interview with Beijing Radio. "The audience will understand that it's in the national interest," Chen said in a video of the interview posted online Sunday night. The news follows reports that some footage of the fireworks exploding across China's capital during the ceremony was digitally inserted into television coverage, apparently over concerns that not all of the 29 blasts could be captured on camera. China has been eager to present a flawless Olympics image to the world, shooing migrant workers and so-called petitioners who come to the central government with grievances from the city and shutting down any sign of protest. The country's quest for perfection apparently includes its children. But the real voice behind the tiny, pigtailed girl in the red dress who wowed 91,000 spectators at the National Stadium on opening night really belonged to 7-year-old Yang Peiyi. Her looks apparently failed the cuteness test with officials organizing the ceremony, but Chen said her voice was judged the most beautiful. "The national interest requires that the girl should have good looks and a good grasp of the song and look good on screen," Chen said. "Lin Miaoke was the best in this. And Yang Peiyi's voice was the most outstanding." During a live rehearsal soon before the ceremony, the Politburo member said Miaoke's voice "must change," Chen said in the radio interview. He didn't name the official. So Peiyi's voice was matched with Miaoke's face. "We had to make that choice. It was fair both for Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi," Chen told Beijing Radio. "We combined the perfect voice and the perfect performance." Chen couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.  |
| Aug 12, 2008 12:58 | #1 |
| A photo of Peiyi posted Tuesday on popular Web site Sina.com shows a smiling girl with bangs and crooked teeth. A China News Service story posted with the photo says a China Central Television reporter asked Peiyi whether she felt regret over the opening ceremony. Peiyi responded that just having her voice used for the opening ceremony was an honor. Whether the move was unethical, or unfair to both girls, has become a hot topic among Chinese and is racing across the country's blogosphere. "The organizers really messed up on this one," said Luo Shaoyang, 34, a retail worker in Beijing. "This is like a voice-over for a cartoon character," Luo said. "Why couldn't they pick a kid who is both cute and a good singer? This damages the reputation of both kids for their future, especially the one lip-syncing. Now everyone knows she's a fraud. Who cares if she's cute?" Zhang Xinyi, 22, who works in marketing in Beijing, disagreed. "I can understand why they picked the prettier girl. They need to maintain a certain aesthetic beauty during the opening ceremonies. This situation is not so bad, especially since it gives two people an opportunity to shine rather than just one." Peiyi is a first-grader at the Primary School affiliated to Peking University. Her tutor, Wang Liping, wrote in her blog that Peiyi is both cute and well-behaved, with a love for Peking opera. "She doesn't like to show off. She's easygoing," Wang wrote. She and other school officials couldn't be reached Tuesday. Miaoke, however, was a minor celebrity even before the opening ceremony. The third-grader appeared in a television ad last year with China's biggest gold medal hope, hurdling champion Liu Xiang, and she was in an Olympics ad just before Chinese New Year, China Daily reported. Miaoke has her own blog, and one of the latest photos posted since the ceremony shows her looking up nervously at the ceremony's director, film director Zhang Yimou. "Giving the child encouragement," the caption says. Her father, Lin Hui, told China Daily he learned Miaoke would be "singing" only 15 minutes before the opening ceremony began. The newspaper wrote Lin "still cannot believe his daughter has become an international singing sensation." It was the second straight Olympics where the opening ceremony involved lip-syncing. Luciano Pavarotti's performance at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin was prerecorded. The maestro who conducted the aria, Leone Magiera, said earlier this year that the bitter cold made a live performance impossible for Pavarotti, who was in severe pain months before his cancer diagnosis. Pavarotti died in September 2007 at age 71. |
| Aug 12, 2008 13:00 | #2 |
| Forlornly, she is the one. |
| Aug 12, 2008 13:06 | #3 |
| Peiyi, I think she is so beautiful...And have a beautiful voice! Miaoke, of course she is beautiful too, but it is not her voice. |
| Aug 12, 2008 17:48 | #4 |
| I don't get it. As adults, we like to say that looks doesn't matter and then judge children based on their looks. We like to encourage children and yet send a message that says 'sorry, honey, you are not good enough to be seen'. I think the kid who really knows how to sing is cute, too. So what if her teeth are not perfect? She is in that age where she still has her baby teeth. Please understand that if the world wants to see the real China, the world would want to see what is REAL. In real life, not all people are beautiful. Us foreigners are not so narrow-minded to think that if we see one ugly Chinese, we would think all Chinese are ugly. |
| Aug 12, 2008 17:48 | #5 |
| Please don't take this the wrong way, but are you posting this as a factual item of interest or for some other reason? If it's to encourage response, I certainly have a point-of-view, but don't want to end up looking an arse if you were merely sharing a news story :-) Dave |
| Aug 12, 2008 19:26 | #6 |
| No wrong taken, however as an individual you have the right to think and express your self. So, please do not hesitate to do it. On to your question, (((are you posting this as a factual item of interest?))) how can you see it, except as a factual item of interest and the truth about a wrong? Are you interested on the truth? Or just the pretty scene, with out a concern of how it was achieve. I think China is so interested on showing the world Chinese greatness, that it fails to recognize that not matter what they do, there always are, certain element in western society, that, are just unworthy of the sacrifice. However, we, the majority of foreigners THAT HAVE COME TO LOVE CHINA AND ITS PEOPLE JUST THE WAY THEY ARE; We, need not gimmicks to keep loving China and it’s people, more and more every day. Peiyi, I think she is so beautiful...And has a beautiful voice! Miaoke, of course she is beautiful too, but it is not her voice. It is not just me; the main criticism is coming from the Chinese bloggers in China. I speculate, if that is, you thinking, “It is ok to you what has been done”... If so, it is just your opinion, and I respect it as such. |
| Aug 13, 2008 01:32 | #7 |
| Well, as to whether it is OK to do it, I don't know... but I certainly understand why they have done it. I think the Beijing Olympic Committee have understoood the purpose of the opening ceremony quite well. It's all about the showmanship and, especially given that it's also at the time when China is coming forth as a World leader, the need to direct and produce (in essence stage manage) their image is paramount. I just keep thinking of film production, which effectively this is; after all they're both spectacles of entertainment. When I look at this that way. then digitally enhancing eye colour would be fine if it conveyed the message they wanted to convey. I don't know the full story - only what I've read here and on the links provided, and I haven't seen the other girl so I can't comment on looks, but what they have done does seem understandable. Odd, maybe, but understandable. Dave |
| Aug 13, 2008 04:05 | #8 |
| Just to add my two bobs worth, lip syncing has been going on for years at many open air events. There are simple too many things that can go wrong. A sore throat could have been a major problem. And to add another point, do you know how many records are made by session musicians who replace the “real band” in recording studios? And then have it passed off as being performed by X. Now that is what I call deceitful. Apart from Alan probably no one here remembers the Bay City Rollers, a really crap band. Their first two records which made the top ten where both produced using session players as the real band was still learning how to play ! How many actors have we watched playing or singing in a movie knowing it was not realy them at all? The point is that this was a magnificent performance on a huge scale that the directors and people should feel proud of. But to close, I think that this information would have been better not said until latter. Cheers, Dodger. |
| Aug 13, 2008 07:18 | #9 |
| This situation is onl;y the tip of the iceberg. How many ugly peopel performed at the opening ceremony, or are involved in medal ceremonies?? Of course it happens everywhere. All business and politics does this. Oh did I say business and politics...but the Olympic games has NOTHING to do with either of these does it? Hey, earlier the Chinese government said that politics should not be brought into the Olympics. Yeah right. So 'the 'National Interest', the reason for switching the girls, is not politics?? |
| Aug 13, 2008 11:00 | #10 |
| I think what have been said is that, if I like it, I do not care how is done, or whom is sacrificed for it! As long as I like... Human carnivores? |
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