In case you’ve been out camping and eating granola, there was a pretty significant scandal about the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. The most adorable little girl, Lin Miaoke, in a beautiful bright red dress was actually lip synching. The real singer? Apparently, she, Yang Peiyi, didn’t pass the beauty qualifications.
Well, the American news started to make somewhat of a frenzy on it. I think it was the top story on CBS5 news at 11 in the Bay Area. Because it’s local news and they don’t have anyone in China, the reporters went on the street to ask “Asian Americans” how they feel about the switcheroo.
Two observations:
- Thank you for finally picking Asians who can speak English. I swear, during the Tibet protests and the Olympic torch run in SF, all the ‘Chinese’ people interviewed had the worst/barely understandable accents.
- All the opinions of the viewers were the same, “OMG! I think China shouldn’t enforce such stereotypes of what is beauty. It must be traumatizing to be the non-pretty girl.” Or “Why is there such an emphasis on beauty? China’s trying to emphasize a harmonious society that isn’t based on superficiality.”
My thoughts:
- Every ethnicity has their standard of beauty. Even though I think Yang Peiyi’s adorable, I understand that the producers may have thought she looked a little homely. It’s honest. My friend from Bosnia and I had this discussion a while ago. Because her and my cultures (at least family and circles of friends) don’t think looks are the end-all, it doesn’t matter if someone says, “Wow, you’ve gotten fat.” It doesn’t determine or ruin our lives; there’s so much more to a person than just that. I think the same will happen with the singing girl. She’s realize that maybe she’s not supermodel pretty, but she’s cute and has such an angelic voice that no one should ever care.
- It’s interesting to me that no one came in defense of the ‘pretty’ girl. No one said, “Poor baby, it must suck that the officials determined that your voice isn’t great, so they had someone else sing for you.” There’s a general agreement through society that things must come so easily when you have good-looks that people don’t come to their defense as much. True?
- I wonder how many other countries covered this scandal with as much fever. I also wonder if the U.S. media is reporting on it simply because Americans love the scandal or because China is an American rival and has performed so spectacularly in hosting and winning golds.
P.S. I posted so many pictures of Lin Miaoke, the ‘pretty’ girl, because despite the outrage that Yang Peiyi wasn’t allowed on stage for her looks, there’s still only 1 image of her online. The multiple results all show only one picture.
5 Comments
August 14, 2008 at 10:43 am
I heard about this and honestly it shocked me a bit. I will explain why. First, I’d say that the reason is a cultural one. I’m french and in France we don’t “honestly” say things such as “Wow, you’ve gotten fat.” When it is said - I’ve heard it quite a few times - it is perceived as harsh criticism. The people that are told this get upset and talk back to the person who said that. To me “negative” comments like these on appearance changes are absolute no-nos and seen as proof of impoliteness.
Concerning the little girl, I think it’s a bit sad for her too, and about people with good looks, there’s this myth that those people do not need anything since life is easy for them. But, maybe more often there is this slight feeling of jealousy towards them so they are ‘left’ aside.
About this news coverage they’ve talked about it some but I don’t think they’ve done as much fuss about it as it was the case in the U.S .
August 14, 2008 at 10:58 am
I understand the circumstance to be one girl had the better looks and one the better voice. So the government used the best of each. I don’t think that’s so horrible. Hopefully, the Chinese government didn’t mean the girl wasn’t pretty. I’m taking it as they thought the other girl was just more appealing.
It’s a tricky scenario, and I honestly think the way the little girl perceives the event is based on her culture (like your example of proper French etiquette). And my guess is that she’s just fine.
Thanks for your comment, Sandra. I love your input.
August 14, 2008 at 12:26 pm
August 14, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I truly wish that they would let people be attractive for who they are… the singer girl - is cute!!! She’s a kid for crying out loud!!! It’s sad that these little girls were boxed & categorized as such… and now must live with the stigma of these labels.
I don’t think that was right. In fact it just wrong. It wouldn’t be acceptable anywhere… but sadly - it happened.
Ugh.
But both little girls have many wonderful things about them… and deserve the accolades they are getting and not criticism. The criticism belongs to the producers of the show. No one else. And the Olympic committe for not paying closer attention to the details. Shame on them.
KC
September 15, 2008 at 9:30 am
[...] (51, by far outbeating the next runner up, US who had 36). Barring a scandal over CG fireworks, a lipsync and the lack of food at the arenas, everything went smoothly. Even the protesters didn’t [...]
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