The Olympic dilemma

The fact of case

Beijing 2008 Olympic, its opening ceremony was held in very grand way by singing the patriotic song Ode to the Motherland. According to Mr.Chen Qigang, the general music designer of the ceremony the little girl – Lin Miaoke who sings and stared the Olympic opening ceremony was only miming the words. Lin Miaoke had been picked only for her looks. The real singer, Yang Peiyi was apparently considered not pretty enough for China’s grand show. The seven years old girl Yang Peiyi who has chubby face and uneven teeth was rejected to be on the center of stage because she was not attractive enough. (She appears to be losing her milk teeth, and her two front teeth are only partially grown, at slightly awkward angles). The show attracted 91,000 capacity crowd at the Olympic stadium during the spectacular ceremony and billions viewer watched the grand opening worldwide.

According to Mr Chen Qigang ‘the reason why the little Yang was not chosen to appear was because we wanted to project the right image, we were thinking about what was best for the nation.’ He added ‘the reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression’.

What is your comment on the above issue? Is that ethical to fix the girl to have a flawless event? Is Mr Chen Qigang’s reasoning is justifiable?

Source: website Sina.com, the star news paper (13 & 14 August 2008)