China's 'Culture of Fake' On Display At Olympics

I've written a lot on this blog about China's "culture of fake" -- the widespread creation of fake cell phones, cars, drugs and other products. Now, the "just fake it" solution is being used to create the impression of perfection at the Olympics. First, we learned, that the impressive "footprints in the sky" opening ceremony fireworks were computer-generated, and inserted into the live video feed. Then, journalists have discovered the existence of "not-so-great walls of China" that have been built to hide ugly neighborhoods. Now, it turns out, that cute little girl who "sang" at the Olympics was a lip-syncing actress, because the real girl (who won a nationwide singing contest) was considered too ugly by a Communist Party big shot. There are many other credible acusations of Chinese cheating at the Olympics. The tragedy is that the opening ceremonies were amazing, Beijing is impressive, and Chinese athletes are awesome. All that faking and cheating diminishes, rather than enhances, China's image.