Lip-synching 'in the national interest'

First it was revealed that the “footprint fireworks” that people witnessed in Beijing during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics weren’t shown live on TV, but that international viewers instead saw a digital reproduction.

Then came news today that the adorable Chinese girl who stood on stage during the ceremony and sang “Ode to the Motherland” was actually lip-synching because she was cuter than the girl whose voice organizers wanted to use.

Turns out someone from the ruling Chinese politburo asked for the last-minute change to match the perfect face with the perfect voice, as it seems the girl who actually did the singing, Yang Peiyi, has less than perfect teeth.

This being China, his wish was someone’s command.

“The audience will understand that it's in the national interest,” the ceremony’s chief music director, Chen Qigang, in an interview with Beijing Radio.

Maybe, maybe not. It almost certainly was in Chen’s best interest if the call came from the government.

The China Daily, the official English language newspaper of the government, hailed the (alleged) performance by Lin Miaoke and said she was an “instant star.” Sounds to us like maybe Lin “Karaoke” would be a better name for the girl, not that any of this is her fault.

Miaoke is something of a star in China, according to Associated Press, and she has her own blog (http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/indexlist_1321880115_1.html).

AP notes that this is the second straight Olympics where the opening ceremony had lip-synching. Luciano Pavarotti’s voice was pre-taped when he sang at the opening of the Turin winter games in 2006, reportedly because it was too cold for the famous tenor, who was sick with cancer at the time and died in 2007.

No word yet on what Vancouver 2010 organizers have planned, but this latest controversy will almost certainly have them thinking twice about pre-taping or pre-recording anything.

It's all a bit much, and we're starting to feel like all is not what it seems to be in China.

A reporter from the Sunday Times who sits nearby in the Main Press Centre turned to me during a discussion on the topic and said, without a trace of irony, "Maybe we're not really in Beijing."

For more on this story, check files by our Beijing correspondent Bill Schiller both at the star.com and in Wednesday’s Toronto Star.

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MAYBE NOT A GOOD IDEA

 

Upon arriving at the Main Press Centre today (imagine that), Toronto Sun good guy Rob Longley and I spotted an old Chinese army tank perched on the parking lot. Some folks were clambering on top and having their pictures taken, which is kinda fun I suppose.

Longley turned and said, “Hey, maybe you can take a picture of me lying down in front of it.”

Uh, I don’t think that would be particularly wise. The Chinese have come a long way, but I don’t think I’d tempt the gods – or the ghost of Chairman Mao - with that one.

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BUT IT’S LESS FILLING

China diver Huo Liang was savouring his victory in the men’s synchronized 10 meter platform event and decided to try the de rigeur photo op by putting his prize between his teeth.

“The gold medal, when we bite it there’s not much taste,” he said.

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ONE HUMP OR TWO

The Canadian Olympic Committee is giving out fun, little cards with pictures to show folks in China who don’t speak English. Most are obvious things like a picture of money or a doctor and such. But one section shows an international red slash symbol to show, apparently, to people in a restaurant.

There are pictures of things like peanuts and shellfish, but the weird item, as noted by fellow journo Josh Brown of the KW Record, was a picture of a camel. I don’t even want to know what restaurants in town would need to know about camel allergies. Or any places that serve them.

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TRICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO

Here’s something you don’t see everyday. Reports on the official Olympic News network say a 97-year-old grandmother travelled 2,400 kilometers on a tricycle to support the Chinese badminton team at the 2008 Games.

Xiao Xincui, who they call Old Xiao, apparently was pedaled about by her grandson, Liu Xianghui.

The story didn’t say how big the trike was, but apparently the grandson appreciated the way his grandmother took care of him when his father died and wanted to thank her with a trip to the Olympics.

The pair left Hunan on March 5 and arrived in Beijing April 11, the story said. Which seems pretty tough on a tricycle, but there you go.

Grandmother and grandson have been given tickets to see the 110 meter hurdles final later in the Games, where they hope to see Chinese star Liu Xiang.

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PAINT IT BLACK

American canoeist Benn Fraker finds himself a little bored some times. To pass the time, he has started painting his fingernails black.

“I spend that much time training, when I’m not paddling I like to spice things up a little,” he said.

Comments

[David]

Media making a huge deal out of a non-issue again? Not surprising. I'm getting really disappointed with my fellow Canadians after seeing all these racist comments on CBC and theStar after every negative Chinese article, no matter how trivial. I thought we were better than this.

Anyways, about the "fake" parts of the opening ceremony: First, they were not even close to being the most amazing parts of the ceremony. Second, it's not like they couldn't have managed the "firework footsteps" like people seem to be implying- they actually shot them off but digitally recreated it for the TV audience because the helicopter camerawork was not allowed live for safety reasons. Last, who gives a crap if the girl lip-synched? She's happy that she was chosen to represent China and the singer was happy that she was chosen to represent China - both of their families are probably showering them with love. The director got his picture-perfect performance.

It seems to me that people are beginning to try too hard to find flaws in the execution of these Olympic Games just because it's in China. Give it a rest already.

[chn077]

People of the west - a region that's infamous for plastic surgery, lip synching, body doubles, overdramatic tv programs, oh i could go on.... DON'T EVEN START WITH THE WHINING ABOUT "FAKE"!!! How many non-hollywood-esque beautiful people do you see on western tv? Approximately NONE unless they are the focus of ridicule on "reality" tv shows. The Olympic ceremonies are still fundamentally entertainment oriented so why should China differ?

The Haters of China are total fools who have been fed anti-chinese propaganda by their gov'ts all their lives and refuse to believe that China has improved much over the past decades and are no worse than the hypocritical states of the west. Just pay attention to how many negative news stories there will be about China from now until the end of the Olympics. Democracy is not the only form of gov't in the world and china may have just shown how successful they can be as a communist state. Before criticizing China, analyze YOURSELVES and your OWN COUNTRY! You'll find that it is no better!

[canuckeh]

Fascinating that the commentors don't address the story itself, but resort to vehement attacks on "the west" and are all lumped into "haters of China".

Maybe, they don't actually read any of the Western media, which regularly criticise Western governments, peoples, etc.
For example, politicians of any stripe are attacked for their positions on any number of topics or comments, average citizens' lifestyles and personal beliefs are fair game and I could go on and on.

But these commentors are obviously in love with communism and are ready to march the Party line. China wants to play on the world stage as a premier power, fine. But it should realize what a lot of other nations have already learned - if you're a big player, you're going to have to suck it up and take criticism, just like the US, UK, Russia, etc.

The director himself says that a Politburo member asked for this change. So is it wrong to criticize the Chinese government for this decision ?

And do not even think to compare it with Pavarotti - at least he was lip-synching his own song ... he had proven his ability.
The show made it appear that the little girl on stage was actually singing, when it was really someone else's voice.

[David]

I did address the relevant issue- the fireworks. The lipsynching is a complete non-issue that has been blown completely out of proportion. And obviously, we get called Communist Lovers for that.

[Jenny]

It seems like any little negative outcome from the Olympics is being blown out of proportion. I have a friend that attended the opening ceremony and it stated that the singer and performer were of two different people. Let's focus on the Olympics for its athletes and not on every little insignificant thing.

[slag]

HEY! Media-men! Enough already...Nobody cares! Its not news. Synching is done all the time. It's nothing new. It was a massive event, the universe was watching, perfection was wanted, and that was part of the plan. It is what it is. Move on to a new topic This is really getting silly....bordering on childish.

[Steve]

The lip-sync scandal was based on a talk-show with a Beijing radio station days after the opening ceremony. The music director, Mr. Chen, who was trained in France revealed the fact that a politburo member of Chinese Communist Party ordered the shift and it was for the China's "national interest" (direct translation). I've watched the tape of Mr. Chen's talk and my sense from his tone is he was uneasy to cover-up the fact and want to make it public that he was not the person doing this. Anyone who has experience in living in China knows that doing so took huge courage for Mr. Chen, retaliation in different forms from the Chinese authority for his action is highly possible. Mr. Chen's future in China as a music director will be dead. His personal safety can not be guaranteed if he has China passport only. Mr. Chen may have western country's passport or hold permanent residence (from Chinese blog discussions, can't be verified), which is good for him, at least to avoid persecution.

The video of Mr. Chen's talk was on the website of the Beijing radio station and is now pulled out. It still can be seen in youtube.

Discussions of this scandal in China-based chinese-language blog were largely purged and most chinese people do not even know the story today.