Beijing’s lauded Olympic Opening Ceremony was marred by more lies after this weekend’s news of faked fireworks, with today’s revelation that one of the event’s younger singers lip-synched her routine.
Cheerful Lin Miaoke’s performance of “Ode to the Motherland” during Friday’s show won her headlines in China like “Tiny singer wins heart of nation” and “Little girl sings, impresses the world”—too bad the vocals were provided by another little girl, Yang Peiyi, whose crooked teeth deemed her unfit to appear in person.
The Guardian reports that general music designer Chen Qigang brushed off the deception to a Beijing radio station by saying, "I think it is fair to both Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi. That is to say, we have a perfect voice, and a perfect image and representation—in our team's view—combined together."
Debate over which girl to use lasted until the day of the event, and discussions even included a member of China's Politburo. Apparently neither girl was aware of what happened until after the fact, but when asked if she was sad to not appear in the stadium, 7-year-old Yang replied, “No, my voice was there."
