Ya Kinda Expected It...

4 days into the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and people are still buzzing about the fantastic and spectacular show that China put on for the world. The whole performance was directed by famed chinese director Zhang Yimou at a cost of nearly $300 million USD, or $2.1 billion RMB. The show featured an intricate and huge amount of manpower and technology, featuring one of the biggest LCD screens in the world and about 15,000 performers. As well, the show was backed by tons of fireworks, possibly even more than you can see on July 4th. The whole show really makes a person wonder, "how is that even POSSIBLE?" Well, after 4 days of games, the opening ceremony is still taking hits to it's credibility. 2 days after the olympics, a british newspaper claimed that some of the fireworks shown were either pre-recorded or computer generated.

The reason behind this? Well, the newspaper claims the reason is so that helicopters flying above the stadium would be safe and unharmed during the performance. Now, is it really the truth? There's been a heated debate as to if it is true or not. However, after the news broke out, Beijing organizers admitted to the deed. Some of the fireworks shown round the stadium were computer generated. The company that created the fireworks tried its hardest to make it look as if the fireworks were created live, and in fact, many people could not tell the difference. The fireworks were used because of the poor weather conditions. They were given to the companies for convenience.

And now, 4 days into the olympics, another trick has been uncovered. The ceremony's music director, Chen Qigang, talked about the trick on Beijing radio. He says that it was a last minute decision, where high officials said that the 7-year old Yang Peiyi was not the image that China wanted to send to the world. She was replaced by 9-year old Lin Miaoke. However, that's not the only part of the trick. During the ceremony, it was Yang Peiyi's voice that you heard, and NOT Lin Miaoke. Lin Miaoke was just lip-syncing to the previously recorded tape.

Many Western countries are badgering China over its obssession of its image. China has already done a security crackdown on the olympics, making sure that protestors are not at the games. China has done everything in its power to make these olympics are perfect as possible. They are very quick to strike if something goes wrong that would embarrass them in front of a world of people. They've even gone to new lengths by making this decision. But, all-in-all, it just goes to show, that, for such a big performance, you just kind of expected it.