of another faking scandal over girl who 'sang' at the beijing olympic opening ceremony

Child singer revealed as fake: One more 'fake' in the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony is revealed days after the Giant Fireworks Footprint fake was unveiled to the media.

This time attention is focussed on the sweet pigtailed girl in red dress (Lin Miaoke, 林妙可) who sang at the opening. During the performance, Lin Miaoke lip-synched the song "Ode to the Motherland". The voice of the song was in fact from a 7-year-old girl called Yang Peiyi (杨沛宜).


Yang Peiyi was replaced by Lin Miaoke who mimed "Ode to the Motherland" as her face was "not suitable" for the Olympics opening ceremony

When nine-year-old Lin Miaoke launched into Ode to the Motherland at the Olympic opening ceremony, she became an instant star.

"Tiny singer wins heart of nation," China Daily sighed; "Little girl sings, impresses the world," gushed another headline, perhaps in reference to Lin's appearance on the front of the New York Times. Countless articles lauded the girl in the red dress who "lent her voice" to the occasion.

But now it emerges that Lin lent someone else's voice, following high-level discussions - which included a member of the Politburo - on the relative photogenicity of small children.

The recording to which Lin mouthed along on Friday was by the even younger Yang Peiyi. It seems that Yang's uneven teeth, while unremarkable in a seven-year-old, were considered potentially damaging to China's international image.

Chen Qigang (陈其钢), the event's general music designer, explained to a Beijing radio station,

This is in the national interest. It is the image of our national music, national culture. Especially the entrance of our national flag; this is an extremely important, extremely serious matter. We made the decision that the voice we would use was Yang Peiyi's. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression. Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects. But in the aspect of voice, Yang Peiyi is flawless.

Click here to read the translated experts from the interview with Chen Qigang.

Other links:
- Olympic opening uses girl's voice, not face
- Beijing Olympics: Faking scandal over girl who 'sang' in opening ceremony
- Olympic child singing star revealed as fake
- Olympic opening song uses Chinese girl's voice, but says her face was 'not suitable'
- Another Olympic Secret: Who Was Actually Singing as the National Flag Entered the Stadium?