olympic lip syncing Options

[brooklyneast05]

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- A little girl and her song captivated millions of viewers during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. But what they saw was not what they heard.

Games organizers confirm that Lin Miaoke, who performed "Ode to the Motherland" as China's flag was paraded Friday into Beijing's National Stadium, was not singing at all.

Lin was lip-syncing to the sound of another girl, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was heard but not seen, apparently because she was deemed not cute enough.

"The reason was for the national interest," said Chen Qigang, the ceremony's musical director, in a state radio interview. "The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feeling and expression. ... Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects."

The decision was made at the highest levels, Chen said.

"We had to do it," he said. "We'd been through several inspections. They're all very strict. When we rehearsed at the spot, there were several spectators from various divisions, especially leaders from the Politburo, who gave the opinion it must change."

"Lin Miaoke might be only 9 years old but she is well on her way to becoming a star, thanks to her heartwarming performance," the article gushed -- without mentioning she never sang a note.

But as word has gotten out on the Internet, some Chinese bloggers are outraged.

"If you're not good-looking, no matter how well you sing, you'll not be onstage. Do you know you're twisting a whole generation?" read one comment.


Another said, "If foreigners found out, they'd think we can't even find a girl who is good at both."

As for Yang Peiyi, she's been quoted as saying she was honored to have had a role in the opening ceremony, even though few realized just how big her part really was.

source


this is seriously the most f**ked up thing i have heard recently. who tells little kids they aren't cute enough. that's messed up.

[Tung]

The Chinese are really losing my respect this year. First I find out about they may be potentially using girls ages 12-13 in women's gymnastics and lie about their age, and now they are using lip singing and such? How horrible. How can you say a 7 year old girl isn't cute enough.

[brooklyneast05]

The Chinese are really losing my respect this year. First I find out about they may be potentially using girls ages 12-13 in women's gymnastics and lie about their age, and now they are using lip singing and shut? How horrible. How can you say a 7 year old girl isn't cute enough.

i know right. i think it's really sad.

[iDecay]

Man, wtf? Apparently it was because she had buck teeth.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/otherspor...g-ceremony.html

[brooklyneast05]

wtf? little kids aren't supposed to have perfect teeth. what a dumb reason.

[pandamonium]

im a little shocked by this. it was obvious that she was lip syncing but since it wasnt the little girl singing thats just wrong.

[Tomates]

Thats horrible!
I agree with Tung. The chinese are really loosing my respect

[Gigi]

Tung, curious about the allegations that the Chinese gymnastics team that are lying about their age - what kind of proof do you have?

EDIT// I just did a bit of research myself, reading articles from CBC (Canada) and Yahoo (American). There is a doubt, but there is nothing more apparent about the differences between these two articles than the extreme bias that the American one has.

A number of U.S. media investigations have shown that Deng is one of three Chinese team members who previously had ages listed on various documents that would make them as young as 14 during this calendar year.

Mmhm, great journalism there.

IMO, if the IOC doesn't care enough to make a thorough investigation, then Karolyi has nothing to worry about. If the American team is good enough, they need not worry about a bunch of small-statured Chinese girls.

----

Back to the actual topic...I think it's appalling. WTF? I would have gladly heard some worse singing from the "cuter" girl. Or vice versa. That is just totally, utterly wrong.

[superstitious]

source
this is seriously the most f**ked up thing i have heard recently. who tells little kids they aren't cute enough. that's messed up.

SERIOUSLY

I heard about this on the way to work this morning. I would have been mortified if I was the child, pissed as hell if I were her parents.

I'm so glad that looks are held in more importance than talent.

[DoubleJ]

I am down to go to China and bash some skulls over this! Anybody with me?

[superstitious]

I am down to go to China and bash some skulls over this! Anybody with me?

I'm with you, but let me put salt in their coffee first.

[KryMeARiver]

f**king chinks, can't even play the star spangled banner right when we win the gold medals

[moninja]

aww, that's sad D: poor girl. i'd be pissed if i was the parent of that child.

[mackenziee]

ugh, thats so sad.

[firechild]

They only showed a profile shot of her. At least on my station. This seems to piss my girlfriend off alot though [She's half chinese]

[Simba]

Dang the Chinese are trying too hard now.

[Tomates]

I also think the other girl is just as cute.
So what if her teeth arent perfect.
Mine were horrible when i was younger but i was never singled out...unless i was and never noticed

[karmakiller]

Most people think all 7 year olds are cute, so on their end it wasn't even worth it.

[Simba]

This does show just how competitive things in China can get though. I mean just even with China, competition for a getting a good job that on top of performing in school, some chicks be gettin' facial surgery to improve their appearance and in turn increase their chances of getting hired.

Show girl's (Lin) got them double eye-lids, even.

[Amaranthus]

7 year olds are plenty cute, so this girl would've been sufficient as it is.

[SuckDickNSaveLiv...]

Reminds me of Milli Vanilli. Girl you know its true is my jam though.

China is about their business but lets be real music is more about looks than it is about talent. Especially when it comes to females.

[pandemonium]

wtf... i just saw this on the news...
i think i saw her lip sing
but i was just so overwhelmed of how good her voice was that i didn't pay too much attention
and now i found out it wasn't her voice

disappointed

[Joanne]

I'll kill people.
I'll eat fish sauce.
I'll drink prune juice.

But I'll never do what they did to that girl. Thats beyond evil.

That's going a bit far.

I do think that this entire charade is pathetic and unnecessary (it really shouldn't have had to be about looks, and even if it had to be, at least have the 'cute' girl actually sing), but I have to agree with KC there. Looks are, regrettably, important to society, and I guess China wanted to go in that direction at all cost.

[demolished]

Olympic is about sports. It doesnt correlate with controversial children's looks.

But i would probably understand China would do something like that. Not to mentioned, they are one of the top nations for plastic surgeries. Actually, the entire Asian countries are topping the list.

This is why the image of a child becomes corrupted when people are so caught up with looks. Everyone wants to look so good and grow fast nowadays. Look at these little kids with A&F, LV purses, and a bunch of grown-up stuff. Being normal with their natural looks is easily depreciated whether you're attractive or not.

My guess for China's concept of lip syncing to substitute a different girl is a cultural difference in beliefs.

[Gigi]

They also said that the pretty girl had more "feeling and emotion"...maybe the girl that was deemed not cute enough was terribly robotic? You can never believe what you hear. This was probably warped.

China is very superficial, but really, what country isn't? Beauty pageants for toddlers where the girls look like they're drag queens, tanning, anorexia, breast augmentation...in America, it's all there. It's wrong for these beliefs to carry on to such a young age (7 year olds SHOULDN'T worry about not being cute enough), but like KC and Joanne have said, image is everything. This is just a very harsh reality check.