I am new on blog. So forgive me if what I said does not make sense.

I was in Beijing during the Olympics and I found that it was rather  interesting how controversies played out in different ways in the Chinese and western contexts. Take the famous case of fake singing of that little girl in the Olympic opening ceremony.  Many Chinese were upset. After all, the sight and song were so perfect.  People felt betrayed when the perfection proved to be an illusion.

Most reporting and commenting in the western press suggested that the highest level of Chinese government (someone in the polibureau) objected the apparence of the real 7 year old singer, so the pretty girl is standing in her place. But if you read the NY Time’s story  which includes the direct translation of the transcript of the Music director, Chen Qigang, this is not the case at all. Chen said that in a meeting including polibureau members, they heard the recording of the pretty 9 years old and decided that the singer has to change.  So in fact, what the leader objected was the singing of the pretty girl, not the look of the 7 years old.  They did not even see the 7 years old according to the report!  Frankly I find this intervention of singing perfectly reasonable since this is a very familiar song for most Chines. If one sings it out of key, you can imagine the discomfort of many people. 

But what Chen did not tell us is who made the decision to use the song of 7 year old and the performance of 9 year old.  Here the guesses differ in China and in the west.  In the west, the fake is universially blamed on the Chinese government–they even determine whether one child is cute or not, how aweful! But there is almost no evidence to support this version.  In China,  people found the most logical person to blame is the director Zhang Yimou. After all, he is the movie director and he is credited for discovering several China’s prettest female performers.  A pretty face, to him, is paramount.  Besides, he already disqualified a 10 year old for looking “too old.” So between the demand of changing of the singer and the demand of a perfect cute performer, Chen did what he had to do.    

But if it is Zhang Yimou made the decision which in all likelihood he did, it won’t be a story. After all, such practices are routine in Hollywood.  The only way to spin this into a sensational story is to substitute Zhang Yimou with the Chinese government. That was exactly most western media did.