The Chinese government is being criticized for replacing a Chinese girl at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony with another Chinese girl who was better looking. 9 year old Lin Miaoke lip-synched “Ode to the Motherland” at the opening ceremony over the voice of 7 year old Yang Peiyi. The switcheroo happened as Yang Peiyi was considered visually unsuitable to appear herself because of her teeth, so only her voice was used.

Here’s a photo of Yang Peiyi:

A Chinese rep said:

“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. In the matter of her voice, Yang Peiyi was flawless, in the unanimous opinion of all the members of the team.

We have a responsibility to face the audience of the whole country, and to be open with this explanation. We should all understand it like this, it is a question of the national interest. It is a question of the image of our national music, our national culture.

Especially at the entrance of our national flag, this is an extremely important, an extremely serious matter.

So we made the choice. I think it is fair to both Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi, after all, we have a perfect voice, a perfect image and a perfect show, in our team’s view, all together.”

The secret of the Olympic karakoe was revealed Sunday by the ceremony’s musical director Chen Qigang in an interview with Beijing Radio. He said a senior Politburo member had said after the final dress rehearsal that Miaoke’s voice was not good enough and that Peiyi did not look right. The result was combining the perfect voice and the perfect performance. The parents of both girls said separately Wednesday they did not want their daughters to speak to the media, and said each felt privileged just to have taken part.

Yang Peiyi is a first-grader at the Primary School affiliated to Peking University. Lin Miaoke is a third-grader appeared in a television commercials with China’s biggest gold medal hope, hurdling champion Liu Xiang.

What do you think of the controversy?

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