No Defence - The Chinese Olympic Lie

It was a part of the Olympics opening ceremony that reverberated around the world more than anything else, giving critics of China’s totalitarian policy plenty of ammunition with which to add weight to their case.

The Chinese Government wanted to try and show the world that there were no flaws in their system … that their brand of communism only produces perfection and efficiency … so a beautiful, perfect-looking little 9-year-old girl, named Lin Miaoke, sang the patriotic ballad "Ode To The Motherland" and billions of people around the world were suitably impressed.

But, soon after, it was revealed that little Lin Miaoke was only miming the words, whilst the real owner of the voice, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, stayed hidden from view. And she was reportedly kept out of sight because she didn’t meet those standards of perfection demanded by the Chinese Government, being rather on the chubby side and having crooked teeth.

The western media went into overdrive, and the story appeared on front pages throughout the world, with the blogosphere (this blog included, in my posting "TRUE COLOURS") heaping scorn on those that had contrived to deceive the watching billions, and deriding a policy that sought to bend the truth to such a degree.

I have no apologies for the criticisms that I added to those made by countless other commentators and I was waiting for somebody to come in and bat for the Chinese, and to perhaps give another side to the controversy – one that might make the issue a bit more balanced.

And today, in the Sydney Morning Herald, journalist John Garnaut (pictured left) did just that. And a right hash he made of it too.

His opinion piece was entitled "Western Media Shows Its Ugly Face" and he berated and lambasted just about everyone who’d shown the slightest bit of criticism of the Chinese – in particular the 25,000 or so foreign journalists who occupy the Olympics media village.

He blamed them all for not checking their sources, and for jumping on the bandwagon in order to distort the issue and, in fact, as I began to read the story I started to think that perhaps the Chinese had been hard done by, and that there had been too much of an over-reaction and, maybe, a distortion of the truth.

He took a potshot at The Australian newspaper, who had reported that an un-named Politburo member had ordered that Yang Peiyi be replaced because she "was not pretty enough to appear in front of a television audience of billions" and he named other media outlets, too, who had used such words as "too ugly" or other variations on the theme.

At this stage, I was expecting a full revelation of what had really happened – had the whole thing been concocted by mischievous western journalists? Was Yang Peiyi substituted, perhaps, because she wasn’t as confident on stage as Lin Miaoke? Was there some other reason that hadn’t been revealed up until now?

What the article consisted of, however, was nothing of the sort. There was no revelation, just a rather pathetic play on words that left me wondering why so much space had been given to the article in the first place.

Following his investigation, John Garnaut was able to get to the hub of the matter. He reported that the general music designer of the opening ceremony, Chen Qigan, had given an interview to China Central TV, in which he stated that organisers had tried a number of singers, and rehearsed with Yang Peiyi, but they had made a last-minute change.

So far, so good … but why the change? He continued: "when we rehearsed at the spot, there were spectators from various divisions, especially a leader from the Politburo, who gave us his opinion: it must change." Chen then added: "the reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings and expression."

They’re the very words as heard directly from the mouth of the musical director, so where has the western media got it wrong? Chen’s statement clearly implies that Lin Miaoke had a ‘flawless image’, whereas Yang Peiyi didn’t (otherwise Yang Peiyi would have appeared on the stage instead, wouldn’t she?). The Chinese Government didn’t have to come out and say directly that Yang Peiyi was overweight, had crooked teeth, or anything like it … the fact that she was substituted, in accordance with a directive from a member of the Politburo, says it for them.

And yet this article, in defence of the Chinese Government, is trying to blame critics for reading something into the event that wasn’t there … whereas it WAS there, and with bells on too! "The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings and expression" is what the musical director said . So what else needs to be said?

I’m not a professional journalist, and therefore not of the same etymological calibre as John Garnaut, but I can certainly tell desperation when I see it. There’s no substance in his argument that western journalists distorted the issue, and by basing his article on nothing more than an exercise in semantics, he makes a very weak case for the defence.

It’s not just a case of ‘theatre’ where substitutions and changes are often made so that they‘re more appropriate to the scene – after all, an obese and grotesque looking Juliet atop a straining balcony wouldn’t somehow convey the authenticity that Shakespeare would have been seeking – but this incident was nothing more than a deceit, concocted for political reasons, and criticism of it was justified … unless someone is able to come up with a better defence than I’ve seen so far.

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD 22 August 2008