"A 7-year-old Chinese girl was not good-looking enough for the Olympics opening ceremony, so another little girl with a pixie smile lip-synched "Ode to the Motherland," a ceremony official said - the latest example of the lengths Beijing took for a perfect start to the Summer Games."
Personally I think the little girl who actually sang the song was pretty cute, but the Chinese have a very specific idea of what is beautiful. They are also very verbal about criticizing what they consider not perfect in each other (this is very cultural). This whole need to present a perfect face to the world does not surprise me. They are trying to do the very best job they can. We could say, "relax china" but that is not Chinese. I'm sure most people in China totally agree with this move to lip synch and see nothing wrong with it. The controversy is a western controversy. In the west we accept the broader idea of what is beautiful (at least this is what we tell ourselves as our daughters starve themselves to get model thin). Because the Chinese have this strict code of perfection in beauty, children born with birth defects like Cleft Palate for example have a very hard time finding acceptance in society. It's very important these kids find homes when they are available for adoption.
