Olympic Opening Girl Lip-Synchs

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/sports/olympics/13beijing.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=lip-synch%20olympic%20opening&st=cse&oref=slogin


One little girl had the looks. The other had the voice.


So in a last-minute move demanded by one of China's highest officials, the two were put together for the Olympic opening ceremony, with one lip-synching "Ode to the Motherland" over the other's singing. Lin Miaoke, the 9-year-old girl in the red dress with the pigtails seen on TV singing "Ode to the Motherland” was, in fact, only a ghost voice. The real voice, however, belonged to 7-year-old Yang Peiyi. Though her voice was perfect, apparently her front teeth were not. We never saw Peiyi’s face. Meanwhile, Miaoke became resplendent in front of nearly 91,000-strong crowd at the Bird's Nest stadium


Obviously, the officials are to blame for this decision but they also need to be sympathized. The main consideration was the national interest. “The child on the screen should be flawless in image, in her internal feelings and in her expression”, claimed a top official. Furthermore, Yang Peiyi is said to have been a good sport about the situation, reputedly declaring "I am proud to have been chosen to sing at all" despite her young age.


Unfortunately, China cannot run away with these excuses. The world's press ridiculed the move on front pages from Romania to Australia. The media commented that China has gone too far with the obsession of a perfect Olympic.


Aside from negative effects on the critics, more crucially, the message from China makes us wonder more about how important is the appearance. To which extent such that a country dared to take umbrage from others rather than showing a little singer with chubby face? We understand more why mankind is so mad about the appearance that countless women accept the myriad risks, spend a lot of time and money with only one hope that they can become more appealing.