Olympics singing controversy: More proof we're all going to hell

Why can't I just ogle Michael Phelps' mile-long torso and tear up at Kerri Strug's one-footed landing in peace? Why does crap like this have to happen?

Oh, because we live in a shitty world where little girls in every single country are taught that looks trump talent and heart. That's why. (Debbie Downer in the house. Click here for my fave ever DD clip.)

By now, you've likely heard the news that the Bindi-like cutie pie who sang "Ode to the Motherland" before billions during the opening ceremony Friday was actually lip-synching. And not Ashlee Simpson, I-have-a-sinus-infection-and-want-a-little-backup lip-synching. Basically, Lin Miaoke, age nine, was brought in to faux-sing because the original child wasn't cute enough.

The actual singer is on the left—Yang Peiyi, age seven. China thinks she needs braces before she can appear in public again.

Reportedly, Peiyi's teeth were a bit too jumbled and officials thought her appearance would bring China down.

Oh. My God. That loud bang you hear is my heart exploding into a million little pieces.

According to the AP, this is how it went down: "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,' (emphasis mine) Chen said in a video of the interview posted online Sunday night."

"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....We combined the perfect voice and the perfect performance."

We all have heard about the extraordinary lengths China has gone to to appear as perfect and hospitable as possible. They reduced the number of cars on the streets and tried to clean the air. Migrant workers and students were sent away to help reduce pollution and congestion. Run-down apartment complexes were covered up to look finished and, as Anita Chang, an AP writer living in Beijing, wrote, "menus at proper eateries now have officially approved English translations. No more 'the temple explodes the chicken cube' (kung pao chicken) or 'fried crap' (er, carp)."

In other words, the charm of the city was erased.

That's what happened with Peiyi. She was erased, pushed aside for a sanitized version of what China thinks a little girl should look like. Meanwhile, her new face, Miaoke, has become an instant celebu-tot.

From what I've read, the ousted singer is handling the situation with untold grace. When a reporter from China Central Television asked Peiyi whether she was sad or upset about being switched out, she said that simply having her voice used for the ceremony was an honor.

I'm just wondering who told her to respond like that. Because anyone else, even someone my age, would be crying.

Note: This is not the first admitted Olympic Milli Vanilli: Luciano Pavarotti's performance at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin was prerecorded because the horribly cold weather made singing live impossible for the singer, who was also in severe pain—this was just months before he was diagnosed with cancer. Pavarotti's situation is nothing like this Chinese fiasco, IMO.

Comments

This is so sad.
But unfortunately, I'm not too surprised.

In trying to make their image look better, the folks in charge here just made their image look even worse, and in the process caused un-necessary pain to these two little girls. What shocked me was the reasoning behind the decision to switch: "The audience will understand that it's in the national interest."...Um, no! We don't understand.

Disgusting and sad. Both children are human beings, not vases of flowers for display. I hope they are too little to understand why they were swapped, but some how, I doubt that.

I had the same reaction.

But what's really sad is that I bet most people would think--well sure! Why would you put a homely girl center stage when you could have a cute one?

The same thing happens here in pretty much every tv show, movie, magazine, school play, and cheerleader tryout. Usually the regular looking girls never get far enough in the process for a last minute swap-out because they've already been weeded out.

gross. disgusting. sad. A**HOLES!!!

I think it's a cultural thing. Like you said, the Chinese have just been super-sensitive about how they are perceived during these games.

Keep in mind, as much as we (myself included) like to b*tch about the presure to be thin in America, America is probably one of the most pro-love-your-body countries in the world. I don't think China spends a whole lot of time thinking about how they can help women feel better about themselves...

This pissed me off so bad I wound up yelling at my husband while telling him about it. Then I apologized for yelling, but he was just as outraged as I was!

I know the directors looked at is as putting China's best face forward (no pun intended) and they feel it was the right move. I'm guessing the Chinese people do see it as being in the national interest, as they are taught that the honor of country and family comes before honor of self. The rest of us, though, who take great pride in the accomplishments of the individual, see it as the wrong thing to do.

And you know, the girl who actually sang is adorable!

I was so disheartened when I heard this too. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the little girl who's voice was used! She's adorable. I wonder what they tell the female athletes that are competing for China- they're on camera for much more time than that little girl in the opening ceremonies.

It's such a shame, but it's no surprise. As it was mentioned in the other comments, it's so common when mass media is involved.

On my list of Places to Visit Before I Die, China has just been officially knocked off and into oblivion. I think I can live with the poor facsimile of America's Chinatowns without TOO much misery for the balance of my years.

It's bad enough I have to pay taxes in a country where insecure, unenlightened boobs make up the majority (yeah, that's right! You heard me! I believe it, too! Unpatriotic? Maybe. But sadly, I also think it's true of the general HUMAN population, wherever one goes), but I'll be DAMNED if I'll give my leisure dollars to a country that would do something so IGNORANT and so CRUEL to a young, impressionable child in such a high-profile situation. What a bunch of phony-ass bullshit!

Do people even REALIZE how utterly Nazi-esque is the spread of the western beauty ideal and the plague-like campaign to enforce it? Entire cultures are signing up like schools of skittish, Jell-o brained IdiotFish, abandoning all that was ever uniquely beautiful about themselves.

I saw this and had the same reaction as you - it broke my heart. I just hope Yang Peiyi can get past this in her life and that it won't haunt her. :(

echoing you and FF.

what is wrong with us as a society?!

That's HORRIBLE. I can't believe that China is actually going to all of these ridiculous lengths.

It's horrifying but, again, not too surprising. In a culture where shows like "Next" are all the rage (young folks pick dates based on how the guy/gal looks), along with plastic surgery "competitions" ("The Swan," "Extreme Makeover")showing us how *easy* it is to look like a celebrity (just dip into your life savings and knock out a few bones in your face!), and plastic surgeons made out to be medical heroes ("Dr. 90210"), is it any wonder that China, already uneasy about how it appears to the rest of the world, would pull something like this?
I thought the opening ceremonies were amazing and beautiful, but this kind of puts a damper on that.

This morning a journalist for "Newsweek's" China bureau said that, for China's poor, having the Olympics is like finally getting to sit at the front of the bus. Let's hope the government doesn't screw it up for them. Because, as usual, when the government makes a boneheaded decision, it's the "regular" people who suffer most.

You know, I am with Crabby on that... It is the same thing here. It's not like you've ever seen an ugly child on the Disney Channel... Let's make sure we are honest here.
I do give credit to the opening ceremony organizers for choosing this little girl in the first place, it sounds like they were going to go ahead with her, but one seemingly high ranked official decided that that would not represent China well enough. And I imagine that though some people might have disagreed, you don't just refuse this kind of request...

It amazes me that the Chinese officials in charge of this stuff don't seem to realize that all these supposed "makeovers" make them look infinitely worse. The more these details are revealed, the more it looks like the Beijing Olympics are going to end up as the biggest airbrush of all time.

This is completely disgusting.

I think the real singer is adorable, too. And completely agree that China looks MUCH worse now after having done this.

P.S. I hope the real singer gets a recording contract and kicks some major ass!

How can anyone be surprised by this turn of events? They also rejected Joey Cheek's (retired U.S. Olympian speedskater) Visa just before he left for China because of his founding of Team Darfur, "an international coalition of athletes committed to raising awareness about and bringing an end to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan." According to the NY Daily News, "Cheek has been critical of China's financial support of the Sudanese government. He was planning to raise awareness of his campaign here, and to seek at least a suspension of the violence via an Olympic truce during the 16 days of the Beijing Games."

The following was also reported: Steven Spielberg or his films could be banned from China under the new rules barring artists seen as a threat to national sovereignty, the Hollywood Reporter notes. Spielberg rankled Chinese leadership when he publicly withdrew from an artistic advisory board for the Beijing Olympics in protest of the nation’s trade arrangements with Sudan.

And am I the only one who thinks the "poster girl" looks slightly maniacal and too "doll-like?" I think the singer is absolutely adorable...

I saw the story on T.V. yesterday - it definitely broke my heart. And I'm with Monique in that when I first saw that "chosen girl," I thought she was a little freaky. A little too cute, like a doll. But there was another great point in that the same kind of thing can happen here. It's not just China. Unfortunately.

It seems as if scandal is the hallmark of the modern olympics but this one is particularly heart breaking. Although they seem to be a lot harder on girls in general over there. Did you catch the morning show piece about the official Chinese "medal" girls??? That was creepy.

This is absolutely disgusting. Seriously, are we ever going to stop sending this message to little girls that all that matters is their looks? Ack, I'm just furious.

The lip synching girl looked like an anime character or even a video game character to me. Not real.

Your grandma reacted the same way that you and the others did....I have copied the blog for her and will give it to her this evening. In teaching 2nd grade children really fanned the fire ...gender notwithstanding. As for me, there is no such thing as an uncute child. They are all wonders to me as they should be to all of us. The saying of "beauty is in the eye of the beholder' comes to mind. More hurtful are viewing children physically disfigured who are not being given the treatment they need. Deserve is probably more accurate. Politically, we are dealing with mindsets we are unable to change and any chastising we utter falls on deaf ears. As you well know, the severest commentary necessitates a balance of humor..........so

I apologize for the bit of ranting, but because I lost my ticket, why can't I get my shirts back?

Your grandma reacted the same way that you and the others did....I have copied the blog for her and will give it to her this evening. In teaching 2nd grade children really fanned the fire ...gender notwithstanding. As for me, there is no such thing as an uncute child. They are all wonders to me as they should be to all of us. The saying of "beauty is in the eye of the beholder' comes to mind. More hurtful are viewing children physically disfigured who are not being given the treatment they need. Deserve is probably more accurate. Politically, we are dealing with mindsets we are unable to change and any chastising we utter falls on deaf ears. As you well know, the severest commentary necessitates a balance of humor..........so

I apologize for the bit of ranting, but because I lost my ticket, why can't I get my shirts back?

Really sad. And the one who was told she wasn't pretty enough will never forget it.

THe chinese are so MEAN they r not very respectful i am soo scared of them cuz u never no wut they r going too do!!

Okay anyways that is not very nice its not her fault that she isnt preety enough but she is little maybe if she was a lil older it wouldnt b that bad but i dont like chinse and i am not trying too be racsist but they r DANGEROUS!!!
poor little girl i fell bad for her!
stupid chinese people!!
no offense!!

When I heard this, honestly, my heart broke. It actually brought tears to my eyes. In spite of what this little girl said, I can only imagine how damaging this must have been to her little child sized self-esteem. Shame on China.

Did anyone notice that ALL of the performers were beautiful? All 15,000 of them. What a coincidence.

Did anyone notice that ALL of the performers were beautiful? All 15,000 of them. What a coincidence.