China: Faking the Olympic opening ceremony, at what expense? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Faked, harmonized, prettified, just when everyone seems so into the Games, out comes the news that two of the highlights of the opening ceremony were not what they appeared: production of a made-for-tv version of the footstep fireworks that walked across the sky from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest began a year ago, and nine year-old Lin Miaoke, de facto face of the event for many, was actually lip synching to the voice of seven year-old Yang Peiyi, harmonized out of the picture because she doesn't look perfect enough. There was some humor to be found in this; people asked, ‘they blew so much money on this thing and we couldn't even get a real one?’
For the faked footstep fireworks, the argument that there wasn't much difference between what was seen from the ground and what was seen on television has made it less of a controversy, that and probably the fact that most bloggers are used to digital touch-ups of official events.
Looking at the early buzz on Twitter, though, we feel a sense of shame at seeing authorities muck it up not once but twice, and then wondering what the next fake revelation will be.
Twenty-something Sohu web editor and iPod fan Flypig wrote a series of tweets just as word was spreading through blogger circles:
http://twitter.com/flypig/statuses/884863093
他妈逼《歌唱祖国》这事儿已经超出了“假唱”的范畴，就是“替唱”，和“替考”是他妈一个性质的事情，这是对整个中国青少年的极大误导。张艺谋滚出来道歉！
http://twitter.com/flypig/statuses/884865256
张艺谋用实际行动告诉了全中国未成年心智未成熟的青少年和儿童：为了“和”，为了“歌唱祖国”，可以让儿童行骗！
http://twitter.com/flypig/statuses/884866210
张艺谋还传递出来一个信息，就是，人长得不好看，歌唱得再好听，也是不能上台的。我去你妈的。你知道你导演的这台开幕式有多大影响吗？你知道你会扭曲一整代人的心理吗？
News of the lip-synching where reported was (at least in many places) quickly deleted, but discussion continued elsewhere; also on Twitter, Chinese wikipedian @shizhao tweeted in response to @buchimifan (‘Chen Qigang reveals, the main reason Yang Peiyi was taken out was in consideration of the image presented to the rest of the world, and national interest’) and @kcome (‘fuck the image presented to the rest of the world, and fuck national interest! Denigrate kids like this and our heaven-sent hypocrisy will just flow from one generation to the next!’):
@kcome @number5 @buchimifan 这样说的话，当年美国奥运会拳王阿里颤颤巍巍那火炬的形象，岂不更是丢尽了美国人的脸？
Blogger/businessman Isaac Mao has collected a few other posts, one of which from Sina blogger ‘nice book on a summer night’ asks:
两个孩子都很优秀，但我想此后她们都会为此事受到伤害~ 唉，这事儿办得，，，哪怕是一个不很完美的童声，或是一个不很惊艳的形象，我们都能接受…
可是现在，别说很多人接受不了~孩子们能承受吗？
大人的决策，要她们来承担后果，对两个小女孩都不公平~
如果有人想为这件事情辨护，请先想想，如果杨沛宜是自己的孩子，如果林妙可是自己的孩子。
有的时候，底线和原则是比国家利益还重要的，至少，如果是我的孩子。
But now, never mind that we can't accept this, do you think that the kids can stand it?
Adults made the decision, but they have to deal with the consequences, which are unfair to these two little girls~
For anyone thinking of defending this incident, please just think: what if Yang Peiyi was your own child? What if Lin Miaoke was your own child?
Sometimes, things like the bottom line and principles are more important than national interest; at least they would be if those were my kids.
At the end of his post, Isaac asks:
那么，还有什么是真的呢？金牌？
Perpetually blocked Blogspot blogger Nick Wong also writes:
今天新闻出来了，让很多人感动得热泪盈眶的小女孩唱歌（歌唱祖国）原来是演“双簧”的假唱，而另一让众多人赞不绝口的焰火“大脚印”大部分是事先的录像，并不是实况直播，真真算是丑闻了。我本来也不觉得这两点有什么让人激动（反而觉得很恶心），当然听了这个消息也不觉得什么失落。中国人天性好面子，自古就好大喜功、喜欢弄虚作假，一点也不奇怪，只是连纯真的孩子从小都要受这样恶习的熏陶，真是让人叹息。