Not Cute Enough For Olympics, Yang Peiyi Was Heard, Not Seen

Little Yang Peiyi, 7, has a beautiful voice and millions heard her during the opening ceremonies. The face though that viewers watched was not Yang though it was Lin Miaoke.

The Olympic Games organizers decided Yang's cuteness was an issue, so they had another young girl swap places with her; the very pretty Lin Miaoke stood in during the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic Games and lip synced "Ode to the Motherland." It was Peiyi's voice, but Miaoke was the body double the world saw pretending to sing. The Chinese don't think they made a mistake by ensuring the musical performance looked flawless. Using little Lin, 9, was a decision made at the highest level. As CNN reports:

"The reason was for the national interest," said Chen Qigang, the ceremony's musical director, in a state radio interview. "The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feeling and expression. ... Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects."

Very few viewers were aware of the body switch. After word got out though Chinese bloggers were not pleased. By replacing someone because they don't have a flawless appearance was not a way to score points with the masses. As one blogger put it tells CNN;

"If foreigners found out, they'd think we can't even find a girl who is good at both."