Don't judge a Homeland from its singer

In the recently concluded Beijing Olympics, though stated by some to be ‘the best Olympics of all time’, with extravagant performances from the host country, as well as world favourites such as Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, there was inevitably much scepticism about the Games, as well as its performances.

I would be talking about a particular performance in the opening of the games, where much controversy has centred around. The performance in question is the solo performance from a nine year old girl, Lin Miao Ke, singing the Ode to Motherland. Her cute demeanour and voice touched the hearts of many, not only at the Games itself, but also the viewers watching at home.

However, the truth was she was only lip-synching to the recorded voice of seven year old Yang Pei Yi, who was ‘not fit for the role’ as she had uneven teeth. Lin was used because she had a nice overall appearance, which resulted in better stage preference. The Chinese government wanted their nation to appear perfect in every way, so they were willing to hide a young girl for a chance at ‘glory’ for her teeth was uneven, however nice her voice may be.


Yang Pei Yi / Lin Miao Ke

It is stated that as part of the Games, the performance is similar to a sports competition. When one team member is lacking in certain skills, the coach will substitute that person for another with better skill, so that the team may win. On the contrary I think this is a false analogy. How can a young girl representing her nation be part of some competition? If it is, what was China to win? Also, in the first place, Lin was not ‘better skilled’ than Yang. The main part of that performance was to sing, but studies have shown that how a person is viewed by others is based on 55% visual, 38% vocal, and 7% verbal. This may be one of the reasons why China choose to put Lin lip-synching Yang, as a substantially high percentage of one’s image of another is based on visual alone, and she was to be a representative of China and its youth, it would give China a nice image.

Some have speculated that this was a form of advertising China. On the flipside, I think that there are other ways of advertising truthfully, with the same or better results (before the truth was found out). I feel that denying a child to her own right to sing should be condemned. Miao Ke and Pei Yi took part in a talent search and Pei Yi won for her impressive voice. I do not see why Pei Yi should not be representing her country in that particularly striking solo performance. Pei Yi still looked cute as most young children do, despite the fact that she had uneven teeth. If the government had seen this as a flaw, it should be more reason for them to put Yang at the actual performance. As stated above, the performance was focused on the singing, as was the talent search. If the world had seen Yang sing, which was the truth, it would still serve as a form of advertisement for China as it points out that though the Chinese people may have certain ‘flaws’ (for example the uneven teeth), it is more than made up for by their strengths (Yang’s singing).

Contrarily, they choose to portray a false image, that china was 100% perfect as represented by Lin, with Yang’s voice, in that it had good visual, vocal, and verbal appearance. However, this evidently backfired on them as it was but a lie, which would be found out sooner or later. After the world had found out that Lin was merely lip synching, as instructed by the government, the world will have negative views of China. One of the more obvious ones is that China would be seen as untruthful. However nice something Chinese may look, it will have to be screened thoroughly for any faults and lies.

Personally, I feel that the Chinese had less reason to swap Yang with Lin as it is as if they were telling a lie to these young children. If it was to be an adult, she would probably have understood that China’s image was at stake. Even then, they should still publicise the fact that the performer was lip synching, but for the sake of the glory of the Olympics, they would put someone better looking. This would also be a plus point for the advertisement for China as it would show that they recognise their faults and are possibly trying to abolish these faults. Or, at the very least, it would still show that China can be trusted on.

Moving back to my point, the move was a bad impression to young children, especially Yang and Lin. It showed them that it was alright to lie, even, and especially so, on this global event, where the whole world was watching. I feel that China should not let detriment come to the highly impressionable youth of today, just for the sake of nation advertisement.

If the youth of today were to learn from this incident, that lying was acceptable by global standards, who knows what the future of our world will be?


reference:http://precious-living.com/whats-wrong-with-lin-miaoke-lip-synching-to-yang-peiyis-singing/

In this modern age, emotional kids, or emos, are abundant in every city. They become emos for a couple of reasons. The general reasons are: inability to blend in with the crowd; unable to get acceptability from their parents for what they do; failure; loss of someone or something important, or juvenile love.


Though self-slashing is seen by many as extremist to some extent, it is stereotypical for an emo to self-slash. Most of them use penknifes which can be easily found or bought. However, some use rusty knives which can infect the wound.

The reasons for self-slashing varies, though the most typical reason is to 'release the emotional pain' that they felt. How then, does self-slashing 'release emotional pain'?



Well, it may be that these young people want to feel in control in this disparate situation that they are in. One way of feeling in control is to be able to cause harm. It is against the law to harm others or animals, so they only have themselves left as victims of their own harm. Also, by causing harm to themselves, they can feel the degree of pain they are inflicting, which in turn shows the amount of 'control' they have.

On the other hand, it may be because of the sense of satisfaction that they get from the slashing. This satisfaction may be derived from accomplishing something(the slashing) special or unique that is not usually done by others. Slashing to others causes pain so most normal people would not do it. They might feel that they have done something others would not dare venture into. However, this satisfaction is obviously mometary as along with the slashing comes with the pain and wounds. Also, others who see their wounds most probably would ask them about it, and, being their introverted selves, this would be seen as an intrusion into their lives.

To them, emotional and mental 'well-being' is more important to their health and physical safety.
However, as the knife goes deeper into the flesh, it is symbolic of the child going deeper into the emotional trauma. Feeling the hurt and depression, they self-slash to relieve themselves. This turns into a vicious cycle and slashing becomes an addiction to them.

There are a few things a child can do to avert self-slashing. As young people, their friends mean a lot to them. They tell their worries and problems to their friends instead of parents(as some of these worries may concern their own parents). Sometimes they may not trust certain friends or their friends have better things to do with their time(like work), causing them to feel lonely and thus resort to slashing as an outlet for their troubled emotions.

As such, i would appeal to friends of these emos to care for them more; pay attention to their needs; and to listen them out, however busy you may be. Your friends are more important than yourselves.

Please, share some love and be more understanding.

The article can be found at
http://newslink.asiaone.com/user/OrderArticleRequest.action?order=&_sourcePage=%2FWEB-INF%2Fjsp%2Fuser%2Fsearch_type_result.jsp&month=01&year=2008&date=26&docLanguage=en&documentId=nica_ST_2008_7965888
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'Setting wayward youth back on the right path', The Straits Times 26/01/2008