Olympic Singer Fails China Cuteness Test

Girl With Pixie Smile Lip Synchs Voice Of 7-Year-Old Deemed Not Pretty Enough For Olympic Opener

(AP)  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-synched "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.

Lin Miaoke's performance Friday night, like the ceremony itself, was an immediate hit. "Nine-year-old Lin Miaoke becomes instant star with patriotic song," the China Daily newspaper headline said Tuesday.

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.

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-synching. 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-synching.

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.

NBC also has augmented its Olympic coverage in the past to set the right mood. That fire in the studio fireplace during the 2002 Salt Lake Games? It was just a video.

[gop_forever]

I bet the liberals have a bog problem with this although their heroes do it all the time.

[fstop100]

AND WE DO BUSINESS WITH THESE MASTERS OF DECEPTION?

[jetlizhan]

poor little girl - i bet she WAS cute enough. this is ridiculous on the chinese part.

[cdfoxtrot2]

bfd. In America, the difference is they''d not even have the ugly kid doing the singing. At least in China, the ugly one got a job. I don''t think Hollywood is in the business of having anything but the most glamorous looking people play lead roles and no-one has a problem with that. Why the double-standard with China?

[cdfoxtrot2]

AND WE DO BUSINESS WITH THESE MASTERS OF DECEPTION?

Posted by fstop100

Who is "we"??? And what makes you think you''re so special?

[donevis-2009]

Oh Stop it already... So what, the show was great and the little girl with the great voice will move on to better things. You all act like you''ve discovered the secret that holds the great wall together. How many of our little cute things had voice dubbing in their shows? More than you could ever imagine and they did it for money...

[hasher471]

"Not pretty enough."

Obviously, they haven''t seen our Lyle Lovett :-)

[jetlizhan]

donevis: you''re downright hateful.

Just like the communists of old. We''re going to put on a great show, but what you see is not really what''s going on. The Soviets were great at putting out deceptions left and right. One girls not cute enough and the fireworks actually seen aren''t what was seen on TV either. That''s two deceptions and that''s only the opening ceremonies.

[mwhc1]

and this surprises who?? the ''made in china'' logo - like pet food and toys (and now kids)... you just never know what you''re going to get.

[mwhc1]

someone have a look on the back of the Olympic medals - i bet it says ''made in china''!

[hawksprings]

"With all the negative press coverage given to the communists in China and Russia lately, the lefties in this country must be drinking heavily, with their two Utopias under the microscope like this."
Posted by mike071067

They''ve still got Cuba.
If there''s anyone there who hasn''t defected from that Utopia yet.

[brianbwb-2009]

"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."

Argue with that at peril of your sanity.

[brianbwb-2009]

"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."

True, but the fireworks were not fake, they happened, but the angle was too wide for a camera shot, so remote cameras fed the widest ones for superimposition.

The ceremony was indeed one of the most breathtaking spectacles that this very jaded soul has ever seen. Britain had better hire the creators of this show, because they set a standard that will be extremely hard to match, let alone surpass. Too bad America chooses to short shrift a true work of artistry because of a warped xenophobia.

Spielberg should be kicking himself for snubbing this, it turned out to be far better than anything I have seen from him...

[chuckabc123]

I agree that it should not have mattered which little girls sang. Seeing the choice that the communist government made, it proves that there are a lot of fakes coming out of China,

[shippg]

What an insult to the little girl who sang. I have not seen a picture of her, but she could not have been THAT bad. Our hero, Michael Phelps, is not that great a looker. His swimming prowess makes up for it, though.

[erasmus81]

"Her looks apparently failed the cuteness test with officials organizing the ceremony..."

What does that say to this little girl!! That was cruel, and she will never forget this, for the rest of her life.

[brianbwb-2009]

"I agree that it should not have mattered which little girls sang. Seeing the choice that the communist government made, it proves that there are a lot of fakes coming out of China,..." Posted by chuckabc123

Then you agree with the Chinese, they let the best voice they could find be put with the cutest face they could find, to be a part of the best show they could stage, I don''t see anything wrong with that, as two girls are now famous and honored.

[chasinwind]

I was far more disturbed by the looks of that dude playing the piano.

[brianbwb-2009]

"What does that say to this little girl!! That was cruel, and she will never forget this, for the rest of her life." Posted by erasmus81

Watch "Monty Python''s the meaning of life, and listen to Terry Jones explain that the little girl singing "Every S*perm Is Sacred" actually sang off camera, as the girl you see had the correct look, or any of a number of American movies where a better singer voiced what you see another singing.

[be_real]

We do the same here in the USA. Ej.Britney Spears - Terrific body and face - terrible singing.

[whoever1234]

The Bush administration is obviously at fault for this poor girl being told that her voice was fine but her looks weren''t good enough.

[andor3]

"but the fireworks were not fake, they happened, but the angle was too wide"

the BBC says they were faked. The air was too smoggy for good aerial fireworks video so the Olympic Ceremony officials fed canned pre-produced video to the TV networks

[jyates99]

just unbelieveable! the whole world acts like everything starts and ends with looks, what does it matter what someone looks like?

[tmcoop]

Brianbwb,

Aesthetic beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The girl with the voice should have been seen...it was her performance, not a drag show or lip synch contest. Let the other girl go into modeling. This sends a bad message to little girls that you have to look a certain way to succeed. It smells of lookism and discrimination.

[lochlan-2009]

Poor girl, imagine being the parents who have to explain what happened to that child. I, happily, have not watched a single second of the Olympics in China, and usually turn the radio or television channel whenever I hear a promotion article in the news.

China has no morals, they are a sham.

[chyenna-2009]

If our country had done that to a "CHILD" b/c her face was not "suitable" I would be as angry at my country as I am with China. I can''t stand a fake espeacially at the expense of a small child. Innocence is beautiful.

[erasmus81]

"Watch "Monty Python''''s the meaning of life, and listen to Terry Jones explain that the little girl singing "Every S*perm Is Sacred" actually sang off camera, as the girl you see had the correct look, or any of a number of American movies where a better singer voiced what you see another singing."Posted by brianbwb at 03:42 PM : Aug 12, 2008

I know she was actually singing, but they are still saying she is ugly. That isn''t good. This is a child.
In may happen in AMERICAN movies, but this was live in front of millions of people.

[andor3]

seems like the foundation of the olympic games is humans, flawed as we are, doing the best and striving to show what humans can do, without fake augmentation, drugs, video overdubs, lip syncing.

This is the entertainment equivalent of athletes on performance enhancing substances.

[tootsie1963]

BOTH LITTLE GIRLS ARE CUTE....I BET THE CHINESE WOULD NEVER REPLACE A MALE WITH ANOTHER MALE...DOUBLE STANDARD

[republic1776]

The Olympic''s is all about $$$ now.
It''s getting as fake as wrestling

[oreoweb678]

has anyone noticed that even cbsnews has made same mistake as the chinese? they are showing the "prefect" girl on this news yet the "imperfect" girl''s face is not shown here. What a sham

[credibility2]

I''d like to see what the little seven year old looks like; she''s probably adorable. I''m a musician and I was very impressed with the outstanding singing of the little girl at the opening ceremony. So, the great nation of China, which pirates movies and infringes on music and written copyright is still at their old repugnant game. The girl we thought was singing is forever tarnished and if the Chinese are that stupid and superficial they deserve to remain ignorant and isolated. For a seven year to have sung so beautifully, pure and on pitch and now not to be deemed cute enough is pathetic and tragic. I also understand that many of the fireworks weren''t real and were digitally produced and a visual scam. China is full of cheats and their mentality is evil. I also don''t believe the ages of the girls on their gymnastic''s team. According to a forensic specialist, these girls are well under the age of twelve. And, the IOC isn''t going to challenge it, but they made certain that our US team members (that donned face masks after disembarking from the planes to the Beijing airport because of the concerns of the filthy putrid air) apologized to the Chinese for having insulted them. According to zonaeuropa.com, 750k Chinese die each year because of pollution and some 300k die prematurely because of air pollution. No wonder they poisoned kids toys, pharmaceuticals, pet food, etc.

[mandalay-bay]

Chinese culture is very shallow it seems.


Btw: whoever thinks a nine year is "pretty" needs some help anyway.

[minuteman-5]

The singing girl''s teeth were not perfect, so the Chinese politbureau said "everything must be perfect", so they used a stand-in girl.

The real singing girl would have been just fine, and looked normal to me...

[minuteman-5]

Posted by matvei1107 at 04:11 PM

It''s only libs that feel duped, because they have no knowledge of military operations and only jumped on the band-wagon during the state of the union address, if they did have military knowledge the would have known the Iraqi invasion was regime change and WMD''s were just a bone we threw to the UN to gain a vote and additional support

[andor3]

"has anyone noticed that even cbsnews has made same mistake as the chinese? they are showing the "prefect" girl on this news yet the "imperfect" girl''''s face is not shown here."

it is true. the BBC showed both girls photos.

[minuteman-5]

This is the entertainment equivalent of athletes on performance enhancing substances.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by andor3 at 04:02 PM

Hey, you''re right, they doped us.....the little be-otch even practiced lip synching to fool the viewers....I also read the firework footsteps were also faked and digitally enhanced

[minuteman-5]

Posted by andor3 at 04:27 PM

If you read Drudge Report webpage, you would have seen the other girl early today, there was nothing wrong with her except her teeth were not totally perfect, but so what

[mandalay-bay]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7556058.stm

That shows the REAL singers face.

She is a very cute chubby faced little girl.

Shame on you china.

[kofiananimus]

Is this article, written in the land of beauty pageants for 8 year olds, the insane vanity of the "E" channel and dozens of shallow girly magazines on bookstands everywhere, and an obsession with Hollywood attractiveness, meant to criticize China for being a little vain? I%u2019m not against criticizing China, but criticizing them, especially US criticizing them, for vanity is absurd! Many better issues to criticize China on, and ones that don''t make us hypocrites.

[haoli25]

Quit your biitchin''. This was just their version of Chinese Idol.

[feedback3-2009]

Posted by matvei1107 at 04:11 PM

It''''s only libs that feel duped, because they have no knowledge of military operations and only jumped on the band-wagon during the state of the union address, if they did have military knowledge the would have known the Iraqi invasion was regime change and WMD''''s were just a bone we threw to the UN to gain a vote and additional support

Posted by Minuteman-5 at 04:26 PM : Aug 12, 2008
___________________
This was almost word for word my reaction to a story about little girl singers.

[feedback3-2009]

She really shouldnt mope about it...I failed the Chinese Cuteness Test SIX TIMES!!!

Posted by DaVicar2 at 04:41 PM : Aug 12, 2008
_______________________
You didn''t fail MY test. You''re the cutest little Chinese girl I know!

[erasmus81]

"...or any of a number of American movies where a better singer voiced what you see another singing." Posted by brianbwb at 03:42 PM : Aug 12, 2008

I have been thinking about this. Here, in Canada, we aren''t as particular about what a person looks like. The actors or whatever, are not always "beautiful" people.

[erasmus81]

"Yep, yep, yep . . . I can see where as you Canadians cant be too pickey!" Posted by DaVicar2 at 04:55 PM : Aug 12, 2008

In a country full of "beautiful people", the not so beautiful are hard to find.:)

[piercetheval]

...AHH SO! MILLI VANNILI!

[credibility2]

It is a sign of weakness and inferiority when a country must rely on deception and falsehoods like this and the partially faked fireworks during the opening ceremony. Pity that the world, but more importantly the Chinese people believed these fallacies as if their nation were great and perfect.

[txlakeside]

Typical of the Chinese HAN. Repress a whole country such as Burma or Tibet and then worry about the looks of a child performer. It is all about appearance to the Chinese. Appear to be just, appear to be fair, appear to be beautiful.

Alot like our baptist and repubs in general!

[hober_mallow]

I know this will be a shock as well...

The Monkees didn''t play all their own instruments.

And Jennifer Beals didn''t do all of her own dancing in ''Flashdance'' either.