At the Beijing 2008 XXIX Olympiad opening ceremony , it came to be known that the 9 year old singer Lin Miao Ke was lip singing and the real little heroine behind the scene was 7 year old Yang Pei Yi. Yang was heard but not seen. It caused much outrage when the media got hold of the information and also generated great amounts of internet comments.

Many take on the view that it is incorrect of the Chinese to have caused this to happen. Comments generated much unhappiness that a technically skilled individual could be so discriminated against "presentability".

CNN reports the opening ceremony musical director explaining that "the reason was one of national interest, that a child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings and expression… Lin Miao Ke was excellent in those aspects…"

The Potential Repercussions
The repercussions are far reaching to the wholesome image it is trying to portray. The fiasco all but racked up great discontent and created a platform for freedom of speech issues to be revisited, satirical youtube videos of Mao Zedong splashed across cyber. Worst of all, it caught the attention for interneters churning out endless unforgiving youtube clips of Lin Miao Ke, heartlessly bashing up the poor little girl who, by no means committed any crime except for being politically and correctly "pretty" from the Chinese perspective.

Possible Resolution
It is a nagging question whether China understands the significance of its actions and in doing what it did, whether it did itself more harm or more good?

It has been quite a few days since the news dominated many internet forums. And is about time that the Chinese takes stock of the damage done. In all fairness, the Chinese wanted only the Best for world to see, the perfect Olympics ever. And to accord sufficient disaster recovery, inviting the 7 year old Yang Pei Yi to sing at the closing ceremony could probably be a major step towards quailing very ruffled feathers.

Is China Really Ready?
I feel compelled to revisit my last article on Beijing 2008 XXIX Olympiad Aftermath - Is The Chinese Economy Really Ready? which seems apt indeed, under such circumstances.

It seems that there is a great psychological block in the compulsion to achieve perfection which sadly could be the greatest stumbling block for China. In its quest for achieving perfection, the remnants of communism overrule.

It must be understood that nothing is entirely perfect, just as the episode with little Lin Miao Ke. And the quest to achieve perfection at the expense of sacrificing innocence should not be condoned.

Mindset change is still the most difficult to achieve, especially when the old doctrine has permeated close to 60 years. This is a time when the party is delicately, painstakingly balancing economic gains and obviously still resolving internal mindset struggles of the old doctrine.

As in all changes, one needs time to synch with the new age. But time is fast running out, especially when China itself is rearing ahead towards the next economic level.