Yang Peiyi, the 7 year old Chinese girl with the perfect voice, was chosen to perform the Chinese National Anthem “Hymn to the Motherland” at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but because of Peiyi’s unattractive buck teeth, another (prettier) girl, 9 year old Lin Miaoke, went on stage instead and lip-synced to Peiyi’s voice.
Yang Peiyi Gets Support of Olympic Organizers
A member of China’s political party became concerned about the switching of Yang Peiyi with the other performer and made the decision to come forward after watching a rehearsal.
In a statement about the incident, Chen Qigang, musical designer for the opening ceremony said:
“We have a responsibility to face the audience of the whole country, and to be open with this explanation. We should all understand it is like this: it is a question of the national interest. It is a question of the image of our national music, our national culture. Especially at the entrance of our national flag, this is an extremely important, an extremely serious matter.”
Yang Peiyi Video
Below is a video of Yang Peiyi at the opening cermony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
