China’s Politburo wanted their Olympics to be flawless even to the point where they would commit fraud by substituting the voice of a 7-year-old Chinese girl who was not good-looking enough for another little girl with a pixie smile who lip-synced “Ode to the Motherland”.

The country’s quest for perfection obviously includes children.

Lin Miaoke’s performance during the opening ceremony was an immediate hit.  “Nine-year-old Lin Miaoke becomes an instant star with patriotic song,” the China Daily newspaper headline said.

But the real voice behind the tiny, pigtailed girl in the red dress who wowed 91,000 spectators really belonged to 7-year-old Yang Peiyi.

You see, according to the Associated Press, her looks apparently failed the cuteness test with officials organizing the ceremony, but the chief music director Chen Qigang said her voice was judged the most beautiful.

Chen said, “The audience will understand that it’s in the national interest.”

Chen told Beijing Radio, “We had to make that choice.  It was fair both for Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi.  We combined the perfect voice and the perfect performance.”

However the rest of the world saw it as outright fraud, especially when involving children.

Peiyi was asked whether she felt regret over the incident.  She said that just having her voice used for the opening ceremony was an honor.

Apparently this was not the only case of visual deception.  There were also reports that some footage of the fireworks exploding across China’s capital during the ceremony was digitally inserted into television coverage, apparently over concerns that not all of the 29 blasts could be captured on camera.