Bloggers Enraged Over Pretty Face Fakery

BEIJING (Reuters)- Bloggers were up in arms on Wednesday over China’s decision at theOlympic opening ceremony to have a pretty little girl lip-synching forthe real singer who had crooked teeth.

Many said they felt cheated because one of the most touching moments of the critically acclaimed ceremony was not the real deal.

"Frankly, I think that’s disgusting. Honestly, they’re seven andnine years old! So young!" one New York teenage girl wrote angrily inher blog.

Nine-year-old Lin Miaoke was praised for her cute performance butorganizers admitted on Wednesday that she was a photogenic stand-in forthe real singer, Yang Peiyi, who was rejected because of her appearance.

"I find it sad that they ruined an otherwise pretty awesome ceremony with those fakes," another blog argued.

"So forget Beijing 2008. Best opening ceremony so far is stillSYDNEY 2000! They didn’t see it necessary to use computer generatedimages to impress the world."

The organizers have also admitted that the "live" televisionbroadcast of the opening ceremony featured pre-recorded shots offireworks.

A search on Google blogs showed what a can of worms had been opened.Indignation ranked alongside astonishment as their primary reaction.

"Apparently, the little girl whose voice was used, Yang Peiyi,wasn’t cute enough. It was deemed bad for China’s image to show alittle girl with crooked teeth," one complained.

Hollywood has been a persistent offender in the past — AudreyHepburn in "My Fair Lady" and Natalie Wood in "West Side Story" wereboth dubbed by Marnie Nixon.

Bloggers accepted that practice but one commented "Something aboutpassing over a child for crooked teeth just seems, well, wrong."

They accused the Chinese authorities of being control freaks.

"China wants the Olympicsas a stage to present a picture-perfect image to the outside world andperfection was clearly the goal for the dazzling opening ceremonies,"one wrote.

Accusations of hypocrisy were also leveled at Beijing.

"Eager to put on a perfect Olympics,Beijing has swept its streets of fake designer handbags, pirated DVDsand phony corporate logos. That dedication to authenticity apparentlydoes not extend to Olympics ceremonies," said another blogger.

But the organizers were unrepentant.

Beijing Games spokesman Wang Wei said: "The song was pre-recorded… The artistic directors just picked the best voice and the bestperformer."

(Additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann and Kevin Fylan; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)