Beijing Olympic Scandal: Yang Peiyi best singer but not as cute Lin Miaoke
At the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony in the Bird’s Nest stadium on Friday night, a nine-year-old Lin Miaoke sang the Ode to the Motherland like an angel. Everybody loved the little girl in her red dress and cute pigtails, but nobody knew that was not her real voice until the international media spread the news that the angel voice belonged to seven-year-old Yang Peiyi.
In their efforts to present a flawless image at the games, Chinese Communist Party officials made an 11th-hour change to their opening ceremony lineup. What happened? Lin Miaoke’s face was chosen when Yang Peiyi, the girl originally scheduled to sing in the ceremony, was deemed, as the The New York Times reported, “the best singer but not as cute.” And so, Peiyi sang while Miaoke mimed. Chinese officials did not refer to Yang Peiyi as ugly. She had the best voice and Lin Miaoke had the best stage presence.
“This was a last-minute question, a choice we had to make,” the ceremony’s musical designer, Chen Qigang, said. “Our rehearsals had already been vetted several times - they were all very strict. When we had the dress rehearsals, there were spectators from various divisions, including above all a member of the politburo who gave us his verdict: we had to make the swap.”
Yang Peiyi is said to have reacted well to the disappointment. “I am proud to have been chosen to sing at all,” she is reported to have said.
Tags:beijing olympic, Lin Miaoke, Ode to the Motherland, Olympic, Olympic 2008, Scandals, Yang Peiyi
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