Comments on: Olympics has an Audrey Hepburn moment

By: Kevin Fylan

Kevin Fylan — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:01:19 +0000

Thanks for all the comments. Locus publicus, I think this was obviously news and something we couldn’t avoid reporting on. And note that we haven’t criticised anyone, merely given people a forum to discuss it.
I heard a joke about it last night. Someone said, “What next? Will Yao Ming turn out to be a little guy on stilts?”

By: Barb

Barb — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:30:32 +0000

Are the Olympic rings a true representation or just a doctored image?

At this point, I don’t see anything spectactular in the Olympics in China because I do not know what is real. I see a lot of doctored images on a daily basis on blogs and other sites where people express their creative imaginations and talent, and some of them are amazing images. But I know that’s all they are – images. If they were the real thing, I would be enthralled.

Olympics 2008 does not enthrall me. I’ve seen more interesting things done with Photoshop.

By: Jessica Lu

Jessica Lu — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:41:57 +0000

To Counsel:
Actually the lip-synching “stunt” was voluntarily disclosed by the production team of the opening ceremony to Chinese journalists, who decided to reveal it to the general Chinese audience via Chinese media. Many chinese bloggers have given their share in criticizing this “misleading” activity and giving their support and admiration to the initially uncredited little girl, Yang Peiyi. It’s not that China thinks the real face of the voice is not appealing enough. It’s just some CCP official’s pathetic idea that she should be replaced. So what gives you the impression that this kinda dishonesty is only criticized in the West but not in China?

By: San

San — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:43:50 +0000

Will Chinese authorities replace their talented sports persons with models walking on ramps ?

By: Counsel

Counsel — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:28:17 +0000

I will let you know why I think this story is important. When this type of “misleading” activity happens in “the West,” it is criticized by both the “West” and China.

When it happens in China, it is criticized only in the “West.”

You can define that if you want, but I think it “stinks” either way…

Is it “wrong” to do this? I don’t think so as long as you give appropriate credit where it belongs–prior to the action taking place.

People who purchase albums or spend money on items from “singers” who actually aren’t singing feel mislead–all of which could be avoided with appropriate notification.

Although, I am not sure what is “right” about this activity either… Why would China think the young Yang Peiyi is not a face to represent their country? I have to admit that I think China has adopted the “West’s” marketing and false impressions of beauty, and I can’t figure that out since China always seems to complain about the West being preoccupied with fashion, cavalier attitudes, …

Now we see that China isn’t so different from the USA–both people are quite acceptable and talented while it is the leaders that I worry about…

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:25:27 +0000

With a population of over 1 billion people China had no young girl that could both sing and portray the right image? I saw the picture of the actual singer and she was cute too.

I hope Vancouver doesn’t pull any stunts like this. Given that it rarely snows in the City of Vancouver in February, maybe the video feeds will be digitally enhanced to make it look like there’s snow on the ground. (Don’t worry – the sports needing snow will be in Whistler or in the hills of N. Vancouver where there is snow.)

By: dw

dw — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:05:47 +0000

talking about government lies, hey did anybody find nuclear weapons in Iraq?

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:01:07 +0000

Locus publicus, I could´t disagree more with you. In my opinion this is news, I find it interesting, but maybe you think I don´t deserve reading Reuters Blogs and I should read other webs. Thank you Kevin for letting us know about this. You don´t need to be a top educated person or an expert to read Reuters news, quite the opposite, Reuters should make it easy for everyone to understand anything which is news. Locus, sounds like you´re a bit of an elitist or a snob.

By: Ralph Wang

Ralph Wang — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:31:30 +0000

The real issue is the little singer behind the scene did not get any credit from the director in the post-ceremony media conference. She believes it be proud to be part of the historical event, probably biggest performance of her life thus far. She had no regret, but those “adults” who engineered the whole thing had the guts to ignore her as a performer!

By: Makho

Makho — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:33:55 +0000

Frankly, I think it’s disgusting how they pulled a Milli Vanilli on us, but then again we are now living in a time where image is everything and humanity falls somewhre behind that.

As for the fireworks, who cares really? They did a great job faking it… it was believable… I loved it. most importantly they set a standard on what an opening ceremony should look like. So, well done China!