Opening ceremony used girl's voice but not face
BEIJING - 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.
The real singer, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, with her chubby face and crooked baby teeth, wasn't good looking enough for the ceremony, its chief music director told state-owned Beijing Radio.
So the pigtailed Lin Miaoke, a veteran of television ads, mouthed the words with a pixie smile for a stadium of 91,000 and a worldwide TV audience. "I felt so beautiful in my red dress," the tiny 9-year-old told the China Daily newspaper.
Peiyi later told China Central Television that just having her voice used was an honor.
It was the latest example of the lengths the image-obsessed China is taking to create a perfect Summer Games.
Also yesterday, Beijing organizers confirmed that some of the opening ceremony's fireworks display - 29 gigantic footprints shown "walking" toward the National Stadium - featured prerecorded footage.
NBC, which spent $894 million for broadcast rights, used some of the fake footage, MSNBC reported on its website.
In a brief phone interview with AP Television News last night, the music director involved in the switch, Chen Qigang, said he spoke about it with Beijing Radio "to come out with the truth."
"The little girl is a magnificent singer," Chen said. "She doesn't deserve to be hidden."
China has been eager to present a flawless Olympics face to the world, shooing thousands of migrant workers from the city and shutting down any sign of protest. (AP) 