If you have been following the Olympics, the pains which China has taken to showcase their country will not be lost on you. Until now, I thought they did a fantastic job. The facilities are awesome, the athletes are happy with their accomodation, and on the whole the Olympics has been a spellbinding spectacle.
Then I read that the Beijing Olympics organizing committee had apparently not been too honest in the opening ceremony.
The controversy: A 9 year old girl, Lin Miaoke, lip-synched to 7 year old Yang Peiyi's performance because Yang had a perfect voice, but crooked buck teeth and was hence deemed unsuitable for presentation by one of the Politburo. Hence the cuter Lin was used.
"We should all understand it like this: it is a question of the national interest. It is a question of the image of our national music, our national culture. ", says Chen Qigang, the musical director of the Beijing Olympics.
Hello? Since when was deceit part of the culture? I seriously do not think people would have made an issue about how "uncute" Yang was, because she is 7. Almost all 7 year olds are "uncute" because they are losing milk teeth. If you want to go down that "unsuitable for presentation" argument, why don't you say Yao Ming shouldn't be the flag bearer because he looks like Frankenstein from some angles?
I think people feel more indignant that somebody was actually callous and insensitive enough to inflict such a superficial judgement on a child, despite her talent. If they really wanted someone more presentable, couldn't they have found a better compromise from 1.3 billion people? I find that incredulous. If Yang had been judged good enough to perform the rehearsals, obviously her looks weren't that much of an issue. Can you imagine what it's like to know that you were not allowed to perform at the Olympics because your country thinks you're ugly. I hope she migrates.
In fact, I hope all their "uncute" talents migrate. Like maybe their basketball stars, gymnasts, swimmers and table tennis players. Don't worry, here in Singapore we don't mind "uncute" talents. You get a million dollars and national adulation if you win a gold for us. Whoever that Politburo guy was, you disgust me. By your own logic, you should excuse yourself from the Olympics just in case the camera catches your "uncute" face and presents it to the world.
Now, despite the efforts of millions, all it takes is one idiot to cast a huge shadow on the entire Olympics. If its really alright, why can't I shake away the feeling that something unethical was done? If they really thought it was perfectly okay, why didn't they announce from the outset that Yang would be singing and Lin performing? Obviously they knew it was not. But now they are attempting to reason weakly that it's in China's greater interest, to cover what is obviously a very embarrassing farce for China's public image.
I'm sure lying to the world is in China's greater interest. Now how do I know you weren't lying about Tibet? And even more ridiculously, they also inserted computerized fireworks. I don't remember the last time any Olympic host did that. Oh wait, that's because they actually use real fireworks. If the hosts wanted to go to that extent, why not computerize the entire fireworks display then?
Perhaps for once, rather than killing people with their fireworks factories, they should actually consider using the fireworks produced before they explode and kill more workers. Did they really think that they could hide something this ridiculous forever? They might have presented the perfect image on a superficial level, but on so many other levels, they have given a pretty poor account of themselves.
To the Olympics committee: If you really want to do something so unethical, hide it better so the world is a better place unaffected by the taint of your actions.