Yang Peiyi was replaced by Lin Miaoke who mimed "Ode to the Motherland"
as her face was "not suitable" for the Olympics opening ceremony
When nine-year-old Lin Miaoke launched into Ode to
the Motherland at the Olympic opening ceremony, she became an instant
star.
"Tiny
singer wins heart of nation,"
China Daily sighed; "Little
girl sings,
impresses the world," gushed another headline,
perhaps in reference to
Lin's appearance on the front of the New York Times. Countless articles
lauded the girl in the red dress who "lent her voice" to the occasion.
But
now it emerges that Lin was lent someone else's voice, following
high-level discussions - which included a member of the Politburo - on
the relative photogenicity of small children.
The recording to
which Lin mouthed along on Friday was by the even younger Yang Peiyi.
It seems that Yang's uneven teeth, while unremarkable in a
seven-year-old, were considered potentially damaging to China's
international image.
"This is in the national
interest. It is the
image of our national music, national culture. Especially the entrance
of our national flag; this is an extremely important, extremely serious
matter," Chen Qigang, the event's
general music designer, explained to
a Beijing radio station.
Chen said that director Zhang Yimou -
who created the ceremony - had demanded a "very cute" child; a standard
certainly met by Lin and, many would suggest, by Yang.
"We made
the decision that the voice we would use was Yang Peiyi's. The child on
camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression.
"Lin
Miaoke is excellent in those aspects. But in the aspect of voice, Yang
Peiyi is flawless," he explained.
But at the last minute, officials decided a switch
was needed, according to the translation by the China Digital Times
website.
"We
had been through several inspections - they were all very strict. When
we rehearsed at the spot, there were spectators from various divisions,
especially a leader from the Politburo, who gave us his opinion: It
must change," said Chen.
"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."
It
appears that Lin, already a veteran of TV adverts, may not have been
aware that Yang's voice was used. Chen said they had recordings of both
girls and their voices were fairly similar.
Yang appears to have
taken the snub in her stride. Asked by a CCTV journalist whether she
was sad to have missed the opening ceremony, she replied: "No, my voice
was there."
Not everyone has reacted so calmly. "Adults may lie,
but leave the kids out of it," one angry
internet user wrote.
Her tutor, Wang Liping, wrote in her blog that
Yang is cute and well-behaved, with a love for Peking opera.
"She doesn't like to show off. She's easygoing,"
she added. Yang's school could not be reached today.
The switch may reflect underlying cultural
preferences as well as the incredible attention paid to Olympic
preparations.
Research
by Daniel Hamermesh, an economist at the University of Texas, has
suggested that the "beauty premium" in parts of China is far more
pronounced than in the west for women.
